A " LIGHT-HOUSE" IN TROUBLE.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 15 May 1919, Page 3

A " LIGHT-HOUSE" IN TROUBLE.

Of course you know what a ! "light-house" is? —an itinerant purveyor of liquor, who prowls abeut the streets and ministers \ to the wants of the thirsty after | the hotels are closed or on the days they are not open at all. The '"light-house" is not peculiar to New Zealand. He is said to! be much in evidence in the so- j called " dry " States of America. One ot these sly-grog merchants appeared at the Auckland Police Court a day or two ago —Geo. j Ebberlie, alias Dawsm —said, by I the way, to be a German —and j evidence against him went to show that he was in the habit of walking about the streets carrying a bag containing beer which he retailed at the rate of 6cl per small glass. As he appeared to have got rid of a lot of liquor in this way he probably made a good deal of., raoiaey, the cost price ,of a small beer being perhaps a penny, or less. But whatever his profits may have been the fine he was made to pay certainly lessened them, pretty considerably. The penalty was £40. The police reported live previous convictions. The " light-house " business evidently has its drawbacks. This is the third or fourth case ctf sly-grog selling; that we have had in Auckland during the past week or two. And we haven't got j Prohibition yet, either.