MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 358, 20 October 1932, Page 6

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Our Own Correspondent) .

ALLEGED SUPPLY OF LIQUOR TO TWO NATIVE , WOMEN CHARGE DISMISSED

(From

The business of the Opotiki Magistrate's Court was extremely light on Wednesday morning, the chief case being that in which the police charged Frederick Charles Parkinson with supplying liquor to two native women. Mr S. L. Paterson, was on the bench. Mr. N. V. Hodgson for accused pleaded not guilty. ' Sergeant Millar, for the police, called Constable Breed. The constable stated that at about 10 p.m. on Sentember last he visited the

camping ground where he found the accused and two native women. - The women were two who had been found guilty of drunlcenness last court .day. One of the women had a bottle, which was produced in court, in her possession and had just taken a drink from it. As he approached she tried to ) crawl away and hide it under a basket. The accused, when questioned, denied having supplied the liquor. The sergeant gave corrobative evidence. In reply to Mr. Hodgson he said that the women refused to reply when asked where they got the whisky from. The accused also refused to reply. The sergeapt said that he tliought the accused had supplied the liquor

as there was no one else m tne vicinity. In reply to Mr. Hodgson he said that he did not see accused drinking", but he was drunk and it was 10 p.m. Mr. Hodgson then called on the accused to state what had happened on that evening. The accused said that one of the women had approached him in the street and told him that he was wanted at the park. Later on in the evening, he went down to see what he was wanted for and

found an argument gomg on between the two women in connection with the adoption of a child. "I listened to the argument, but I did not drink any of the whisky which they had in their' possession before I got there." He admitted that he had had a few drinks earlier in the evening, but this had been before the hotels closed. In reply to the sergeant, he said that he admitted that he was drunk, but not too drunk to answer questions. He said that he was trying to get away when the police appeared. He had tried to get away several times before, but the women had called him back. The Magistrate said that the accused had been in the company of native women who were drinking, but there was nothing* to prove that he had supplied the liquor, and the case was, therefore, dismissed.