SLY GROG PROSECUTION.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 319, 19 December 1929, Page 5

SLY GROG PROSECUTION.

HEAVY FINES INFLICTED. The Result of Arapuni Raid. Recently Constables Cotter (Putaruru) and Sutton (Hamilton) raided the premises of Mrs. Elizabeth Gibbs at Arapuni, and as a result Mrs. Gibbs and her son, James Francis Gibbs, appeared before Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., at Putaruru on Thursday, charged with selling linuor without being authorised to do so. There were two charges, one pertaining to December 5 and the other to December 6.

Mr. J. R. O. Lochhead appeared for defendants and entered a plea of guilty on their behalf. Sergeant Hogan, in outlining the case, said the defendant kept diningrooms in Arapuni and she was assisted by her son. Liquor was obtained by a certain person being served by the female defendant. Later further liquor was obtained, including a bottle of whisky for which £1 was paid. There had been several complaints about sly grog selling in Arapuni, and the offence was a difficult one to detect. Owing to the large number of men employed sly grog selling led to quarrels, and the police were given a great deal of trouble. One hundred and six bottles of beer were discovered. The only spirits found was the bottle of whisky sold to the constable. Mr. Lochhead said it would not be fair to blame the defendants for the trouble alleged to be caused £>y drink at Arapuni. Quite a lot of liquor was taken into Arapuni. One and a half dozen of beer was found in the house, the balance being found in a motor shed. Mrs. Gibbs had started the illegal business by obliging a friend and found the way easy. She had not been long at it. As far as the bottle of whisky was concerned, it had been in the house for some time, and when the opportunity came to convert it into cash it was taken advantage of. The son was a taxi driver, and the liquor found in the car shed had been purchased by the male defendant for a social club, to be used at a social gathering on the day following the raid. Gibbs had had to pay £8 for the social club’s liquor, being a refund of the cost paid him. The sergeant said the defendant admitted to the police buying the beer at Is 8d per bottle and selling it for 2s per bottle. Defendants were each convicted and fined £lO and costs on the first charge and £5 and costs on the second. Car hire amounting to £3 had also to be paid. The liquor was ordered to be confiscated, and the defendants were allowed one month in which to pay the fines.