WITH DRINK

NZ Truth, Issue 1202, 13 December 1928, Page 5

WITH DRINK

Youth Will Be Served FATAL RUSE (From. "N.Z. 'Truth's" Christchurch . . ■■"■•• < • Rep.) ■ , ' Some indication of the problems confronting the publican endeav- j oring to do an honest business was given !n Christchurch when the tragic sequel to the violent death of a youth was enacted m the police court before Magistrate E. D. Mosley. THE action involved the licensee of *■ the Heathcote Arms Hotel, Grace Anne Moore, and her barman, Joseph Lewis Gestrp, who were each charged on three separate counts of supplying liquor to three youths under the age of 21 years. The law prescribes that youl.h must await the coming o£ age before being entitled to put his foot on the rail, but it is an accepted fact that many young men commence cultivating a thir.st before attaining their majority. The law places the onus on the publican to ascertain the age m cases of doubt, but it rests merely with the truthfulness of the patron, and m the case of boys over eighteen years of age it is a very difficult matter for publicans and Ijheir servants to determine their age on their appearance. The tra&io death of William Charles Mowbray, a young man who fell from a cliff track leading to Taylor's Mistake, on to the roof of a motor garage at Sumner, brought to light a case where four youths, including the deceased, met by arrangement, and by their own cunning defeated the law at the expense of the licensee. They -went to the private bar at a time of the day when the hotel was busy, and were served with drinks through a slide, which practically obscured the three youths, who were under age, from the view of the person serving the drinks,. It was stated m the course of evidence that the crowd m the I bar at the time the youths were served was the biggest that had | ever been there, and they had been served during the rush, which accounted for ! no questions being asked. The police also gave the licensee credit for endeavoring to improve the reputation of a har.d hotel, a statement which was endorsed by the magistrate. The unfortunate climax to the arrangement made by the youths to defeat the law was the untimely death of one of the party and the conviction of an otherwise innocent woman. It was a circumstance under which any unsuspecting publican might have been caught, while those who . conspired to defeat the law at the expense of someone else go free.