THE LICENSING ACT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 38, 12 January 1884, Page 3

THE LICENSING ACT.

Decision."

I o** M|he R.MJ^burt, yejaterday,BTarriet Emma Broughton, licensee of the Provincial * Hotel, was charged I with selling liquor to a man m state of intoxication! on Saturday, the sth inst. — Deieifdant pleaded not guilty. Sergeant BlSß6tt>>tatbd that lie was parsing the hotel about il o'clock aii night, and !saW the- defendant's tmi maid supply a I glansof beer to man named Krancis ! Mailman, who was helplessly drunk, i Witness removed the man to the lockup. Defendant pushed the man out of theihouse, whereupon witness arrested 'him. When he was pushed out of the j hotel he^felldpwn, but got up without {assistance. Mailman was brought up at the C^urt the. nex^t.iday,; pleaded 'guilty^ and was fined for.being drunk. ! Witness sato the beer served to J Mailpad; but could not say who pafd for it. i Af tor. evidence for the defence had been taken, His Worship delivered the following 7 jndgmenti-^Takiug the 'three contentions of counsel for the defendant andviictermining -them by the Act and by the evidence before me,i come to this fon&usiqa, thiuk the act ofiheburma'id tin this occasion must be deemed to be the act of the licensee, and that Mrs BrougVton is Hablefor this alleged offence jusfc'aVft she i hiaVsold the beer bersglfe Referring to the second ground <m which the defendant asks for a dis- : missal of the information, it. appears to , me thaifthe" intention of the* Act clearly is that a person already m a Btate of infoii6afton : Bhbuldnol be supplied with liquor. That, evidently, to my mind hi the intention of the 146 th section [If any innkeeper" * .*.-,*, sells any liquor id any person already m a state of intoxication]. The more I look at

the section 170 of the Act the more convinced lam that the two sectionmust be read together. Interpreting them together, and m the absence of •any particular grounds, I am inclined to think that there has heen such a sale as makes it an offenoe i«nder the 146 th sectiou. I thiuk the last portion of section 170 — [Proof of consumption or intended consumption ot liquor, on premises to which a license under this Act is attached, by some person other than the occupier of or a servant m s,uch promises shall be evidence that such liquor was sold to the person consuming or being about to consume, or carrying away the same, by or on be-" half of the holder of such license,] is enough to make this an offence, and tfiat the intention of 170 makes the present evidence sufficient to obtain a conviction nnder section 146. Reverting to the thiid ground raised by Mr Barnicoafc, that Mailman did not appear to the barmaid who served him to be m a state of intoxication, it simply comes to this : that, if Sergeant Bissett'ae videhce is to.,be relied upon, the barmaid must have known that Mailman was not m a state to be supplied. It is an unfortunate fact that Mailman is addicted to drinking, and a fact of record that licensed persons were prohibited for 12 months from supplying him with liquor. The Act throws on the person supplying the liquor the onus of using reasonable care to &cc that, persons supplied are not m a state of intoxication. From the evidence of the sergeant who saw Mailman's condition at the time, and that of the two constables who saw him a few- minutes afterwards, it is evident that the^ girl must have known Mailman's condition if she had exercised a reasonable amount of caution. There are, therefoi c, grounds for convicting the defendant under the 146 section. Defendant was fined 40s and costs, the conviction to be endorsed on the license.