MOKAU WHISKY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 7

MOKAU WHISKY

A MISSING ALLEGED BREAKING AND ENTERING

In the .Magistrate's Ooirt yesterday morning, James North, a carpenter, residing at Mokau, was charged with breaking and entering the Harbor Board's wharf shed at Mokau and stealing, on or before September 15, a case of whisky, valued at £3. The accused pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr. J. H. Quiliiam.

Evidence was given by the secretary and wharfinger of the Harbor Board that on September 2 two cases of Whisky were put into the shed for safe custody on behalf of Constable Warneford, who had seized them under warrant. On Monday afternoon, September 16. he found that the shed had been broken into and a case of whisky removed.

Cross-examined by Mr. Quiliiam, the witness said he was absolutely certain that the whisky was in the shed on September 11. lie did not have occasion to go into the shed between that date and September 1(! —the day of the alleged offence. A considerable quantity of liquor was imported into Mokau. He had seen empty bottles of the brand (Usher's Green Stripe) of whisky stolen Ivintr about. Mokau during September. He had known accused for about two or three years, and his reputation for honesty was very good.

Robertson Swinton. a driver in the employ of Jacob's, storekeeper, Mokau. said that the accused shared a room with him at Mrs. Box's .'boardinghouse at Mokau. Last Sunday night accused woke him up and asked him to have a nip of j whisky. Witness partook of a portion 1 of a bottle of the spirit, which was nearIly full. He asked the accused where he | "raked" the bottle from, and the reply was. "Ask no questions!" Witness said I that accused was "merry." The bottle was a black bottle with a white label, but he did not notice any green stripe on it.

A MOKAU CUSTOM. To Mr. Quilliara: It was customary in Mokau, "when a person had liquor, to share it with friends, and there was nothing unusual in drinking whisky neat out of a bottle "in Mokau." The following morning he told the accused that he was suspected of stealing a case of whisky. North did not appear very surprised, and replied that he would go and see Constable Warneford about it. ■Evidence was given by Margaret Box that the accused had been boarding at her establishment for the last two or three months. To her knowledge he had not had any liquor consigned io her house while he had been living there. She had not seen him under the influence of liquor during the last two weeks. She saw him at 8 p.m. on Sunday, and he had no signs of liquor on him. The following morning he asked her if she had removed any whisky from his room. Witness replied in' the negative, and

TIIEY HAD "SOME WORDS," which ended in her telling him to leave the house. Accused was perfectly sober, but she could sec that he had had some liquor. .Witness added that she did not see any whisky in his room.

To Mr. Quilliam: The accused was a man affected by very little liquor. Charles Warneford, police constable, stationed at Mokau. said that the eases of whisky which he had seized under warrant and stored in the wharf shed were maTked "Usher's Green Stripe Whisky" One was addressed to F.. Carringtori and the other to Alfred Lindross. Witness went on to relate how accused had come to his office on Tuesday morning, stating that Swinton had toid him that he (witness) wished to see him. Witness said he had replied "Yes," and told him that he 'had ' been to Awakino looking for him. Witness asked him where he had been. AN AL FRESCO NAP. Accused..told him that he had started to go to Awakino at dinner-time the previous day. and that hc'liad taken the beach road, and when about half way he had gone to sleep in the scrub on the beach, and that he had remained there until about midnight. He then went hack to Mrs. Box's and slept on the sofa there until morning. Witness said to him, "You have been drinking." and asked where he got the drink, lie said he got it from a friend—that he found it on his bedroom table on the Monday morning when he woke, and that a friend must have put it there. Witness then told him that there had been a theft of liquor from the Mokau wharf, and that it looked very black against him and that he had a warrant for his arrest, which he read to him. Accused told him that there was no one else there on the Monday morning when he found the liquor, and that he drank it and threw the bottle out of the bedroom window. Accused told him that he had no drink on Sunday. He admitted that he had been on the wharf on Sunday morning. Witness searched North's room at Mrs. Box's boardinghouse, but found nothing there. He saw no bottle of the brand produced there. In going through the passage at the side of the house witness found the bottle produced slicking out from under the house. Without calling on the evidence for the defence, the Magistrate said that no case had been made out connecting the accused with the theft of the whisky or the breaking and entering of the shed. TJie information would accordingly bo dismissed.