ALLEGED ILLICIT LIQUOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 27, 25 February 1909, Page 4

ALLEGED ILLICIT LIQUOR.

I NONPLUSSING THE PROSECUTION. 1 THE AWAKINO CASE. 'An important decision was given in the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning by Mr. H. IS. Fitzherbcrt, S.M., in the case, in which A. C. Crawford, of Urenui, was charged on live counts with having solicited and taken orders for liquor, and with having sold liquor ■within a prohibited area, at Awakino. The case was heard at Waitara last week, and the police produced evidence to prove the delivery of whisky in the area named. Apart" from his denial of the facts as alleged, Mr. Quilliam, for the defence, raised an interesting and important legal point, and asked the ■ Magistrate to hold that the proclaimai tion Was in part ultra vires, in so far as it referred to 16,000 acres at Awakiuo. i The decision was as follows:—"There 1 are five informations laid against CrawI ford under section 2-73 of the Licensing ■ Act, 1008. Two defences were raised by • Mr. Quilliam, counsel for the defendant. ; The first defence was on the merits, ! I tile other that the offences with which : defendant was charged were alleged to , have been committed on land not inI eluded in the proclamation in Gazette I 1894, vol. 1, page 712. (His Worship ; then, read sections 272 and 273 of the Licensing Aet). It is for the breaches ■ of sectiom 273 that the informations ! were laid against the defendant. It is 1 clear from the wording of section 272 that the power of the Governor to dei dare that no license shall be granted, i withini any area, is limited to 'native ! land,' and it is only with respect to t such land that the offences with which - the defendant is charged can be comi nititted, so. that, if it is proved to me fc that the land where the offences are r alleged to have been committed was npt i native land, then no, offence has been i committed, because it is no included in ; the (proclamation. The proclamation i says that 'from and after the date herc- - of no, license under the said Act shall ; bo granted within the area of native 1 land described in the second schedule to it.' These offences' were supposed t to have been committed at Awakino, t which is included within the boundaries - mentioned in the second schedule. If 1 the Governor by his proclamation had i .intended to include the whole of the land, whether native land or not, in the b second schedule, no doubt the proclamae tion would have read 'area of land only,' d but the 'words 'native land' are used. Of s course, it may be that the words 'na- -' tive land' are merely used to describe i | the class of land, but I am of opinion '' that the Governor meant native land - only, and I take that to be the intert pretation I must put upon these words -«in his proclamation.- Awakino, as I c have said, is included in the: schedule. e The whole of the Awakino Block, com--1 prising 16,000 acres, was on March 2S, ii I'Soi, conveyed by the Maoris to Queen s Victoria. In the Maori Deeds and Re--1 cords, vol. 1, page. 624, there is a copy s of a deed transferring the interest of the native owners to Queen Victoria, for s a consideration of £SOO. I find that in 1856 the same land was offered for sale f by a notice in the Auckland Provincial e Gazette. It is not, however, necessary c to consider this. It is quite clear that 1 Awakino has not been native land since ; 1554, and that being so, the particular offences with which the defendant is i charged could not be committed, as it is - only with respect to native lands prof claimed by the Governor that such ofe fences can lie committed. With regard - to the merits, I say nothing. The five , informations will be dismissed."