Informers Served Out.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 120, 16 April 1884, Page 2

Informers Served Out.

The tables .wei'a properly turned on two " gentlemen"- who figured as Sun-day-trading, iniorjaaers at the Kew ( Victoria) : PoKce<3oupfc on a recent oc- 1 casipn, and this is .how the case is stated m & Melbourne exchange just to hand. We give .-it for tjbe benefit of any who may contemplate following the same "honorable" occupation m this colony : — ." They brought a charge of Sunday -trading against a local publican. In cross-examination, however, they admitted before being served they were asked if they were bona fide travellers, to which query they answersd. ' yes.' The case was, of course, « dismissed, i This was bad enough for the gentlemen going m for the new profession of * informer,' but worse remained behind. The two informers were immediately chargedby the publicau with a breach of the Licensing Act m falsely representing themselves as bona fide travellers. The case was proved, and the informers were 'each fined £5, or m default a month's imprisonment. No one will complain, at the turning of the tables, for however desirable it may be to punish the' slightest infringement of the law, it is monstrous to think that the informers should actually tell lies to procure" proof of the breach of the Act. The business of an informer m Melbourne appears to be like the burlesque policeman's lob — * is not a happy one."'