NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, 25 May 1918, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

KEEPING LIQUOR FOR SALE. £SO FINE IMPOSED. At the Raetihi Magistrate's Court, on Thursday, before J. G. L. Hewitt, Esq., S.M., the following liquor cases were dealt with: Police v Hare Tairei, charged with keeping liquor for sal'e in a no license area. Mr. Waldegrave appeared for accused. Constable McCowan stated that he had had occasion to warn this man last year. He got a case of whisky on the 31st January, and within ten days- he had only one bottle left. When the Constable spoke to him about it he at first denied having got a case. John Wilson, Police Constable, stationed at Wanganui, deposed that on the night when the Maori concert and dance being held in Eaetihi, he was on duty Saw four Maoris and a white man standing in the dark near the Drill Kail, and heard one of them say "six and six each." One struck a match and they appeared to be changing money. Saw one drinking out of a bottle. Witness approached them and saw one Maori stoop down by the fence Went to the place and found a square bottle half full of whisky there. A number of the Maoris were under the influence of liquor. Hare- Tairei deposed he was a farmer on 314 acres on the ParapaVa road. Remembered the night of the dance. Got the whisky in Mitchell's name. Accused "described having gone to Taihape and obtained the whisky at the Gretna Hotel, accused paying for it. Mitchell signed for it and it was consigned to Eaetihi. Mitchell gave him a signed order to get the liquor. A bottle and three quarters of a bottle was gone before the concert started. He got it principally for the visiting Maoris, but several pakehas had some of it. He w r as quite sure, he did not sell any of the liquor.

John Frederick O'Connor, farmer, Euatiti, deposed to having had some of the liquor. It was not offered to him by Hare, but by another Maori, He did not pay- for it. ,- • --r Ernest Brown, deposed to having had several drinks with Tairei at his invitation,.but did s not pay for them. This .concluded tike- his {Worship said :he : would. have : to apply the King Country law and; fine iaccused £SO, witnesses' expenses 16s 6d, ; to be deducted from the fine. Mft l-OTHEB LIQUOR CASES* { J. Mitchell was'charged with aiding and abetting in the eommissfp'njlf arT offence. Accused, who pleaded guilty, was'fined £2. '"'[ ' _ Police v. E. Brown, charged with "aiding and abetting. '..'. The charge was dismissed, his Worship static that, whereas in The case of the King Country liquor'law the law was'reversed and the-'onus was thrown on accused to prove his innocence, it would be'dangerous to extend the provisions of * that law. He did not consider an equal responsibility rested on the accused to disprove that he had aided and abetted to procure liquor, knowing it was for sale. Police v F. Beattie, charged with having a piarcel of liquor sent into a no license district without notifying the Clerk of the Court or having it properly labelled and addressed. Mr. Wadegrave appeared for accused, and put in a letter, which stated that iaccused had asked a friend to order the liquor, and the mistake was on his part. His Worship held that there was no charge to answer, and dismissed the case.—" Call."

TROUBLE WITH SHEARERS,

MEN BEFOEE THE COURT. | DANNEVIRKE, this day. Nine men, Maori shearers and shed hands, who allegedly struck at the Tautane station in October last, were charged before Magistrate McCarthy, for participation in an unlawful - strike, Mr. Herrick, one of the owners of Tautane, dismissed a shearer for rough treatment of a lamb, and the rest of the gang suspended work in sympathy, but late in the afternoon offered to resume. Next morning Herricks gave them ten minutes to return to work or else they could not resume. They did not accede to this, but tendered thmselves for work next morning, and were not allowed to start. The Magistrate held that Herrick was justified in dismissing the Maori for ill-treat-ment of sheep, but the shearers, inceasirig work, committed an unlawful, act, which gave Herrick the right to dismiss them. The ceasing of work was the inception of a strike, and if the cessation had been persisted in by the men there would have been a strike. As shearers offered to return to work with in a short time of ceasing work it was unreasonable to hold that the men took part in a strike within the meaning of the Act. Judgment was given for the defendants; no costs were allowed, the magistrate considering the Labour Department was right in bringing the case before the court

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