NOT BEER!-COLD TEA

NZ Truth, Issue 1148, 1 December 1927, Page 5

NOT BEER! -COLD TEA

Griffiths Springs Surprise

In Court

CUTE TRICK TO CATCH POLICE

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Plastings Representative.)

COLD tea and the law threaten to become a live issue m the Hawkes Bay district, for verily, a jockey has confessed to a unique hoax to catch the police. He substituted cold tea for beer, and preserved his secret — even from his own counsel — until he got into the witness-box.

Whilst the three were discussing the position, continued the constable, Sergeant Hogan arrived on the scene. McLeod told the sergeant that Griffiths had been just inside the door and again denied that Griffiths had got the beer from the hotel. Griffiths still refused to say where he got it except to say that it was from a shop* down the road. The party then went back to the police station, and there Griffiths admitted that he had been insido the hotel as far as the slide of the office. Lawyer Hallett: Did he tell Sergeant Hogan what he had been m the hotel for? — Yes. He said that he had been to see him about a racehorse which he (Griffiths) was to ride the next day. Where were you when you first saw Griffiths? — Standing on the railway line.

In uniform? — Yos. Is that street well lighted? — Tea, very. And you could be easily seen from the hotel door? — Yes. And m spite of all this, Griffiths walked straight towards you, right into your arms? — Yes. Did he speak to you? — He didn't get a chance. I got m first. Constable Murray, also of Napier, who was standing with Constable Flannery, gave corroborative evidence of Griffiths coming out of the hotel. Lawyer Hallett: What was his condition? — Ho was noticeably under the influence of liquor. He walked along the street all right? — Yes, pretty well, but he had a load on board, and his speech was a bit "thick."