DRINKS ON SUNDAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1915, Page 7

DRINKS ON SUNDAY.

RAID ON A WAITARA HOTEL. LICENSEE AND OTHERS FINED. A surprise visit was paid by the police to the Club Hotel at Waitara on a recent Sunday, and there was a sequel at the Waitara Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon, when the licensee of the hotel was charged with selling liquor on Sunday, October 10, and a number of men were charged with being unlawfully on licensed premises on the same day. Mr. A. Crooke, 5.M.,-presid-ed, and Sub-Inspector Fouhy prosecuted. The first case was against J. T. Gardiner, licensee of the Club Hotel, who was charged (1) with selling liquor on Sunday, October 10, and (2) with exposing liquor for sale on that day. Subsequently the second charge was withdrawn. Mr. A. H. Johnstone appeared for Gardiner, who pleaded guilty. Addressing the Court, counsel said that four young men who were working in the bush at Awakino—W. Fisher, V. Payne, P. Sparrow, and R. Blackholm—decided to enlist in the Ninth Reinforcements of the Expeditionary Force, and from Awakino they came to Waitara, arriving there on Sunday, October 10. They were accompanied by a man named Blanchard, who registered as a lodger at the Club Hotel. On this particular Sunday these men met W. Kershaw, A. 11. Loveridge, W. J. Jones, and W. Lash, who had been working on a Home steamer loading at Waitara, and, as all the 'men were friends, they gathered on the riverbank, talking. Blanchard, the man who wa3 a lodger at the Club Hotel, suggested that, as the ones, who were going away would not have an opportunity of seeing the others again, they should all go into the hotel and have a farewell drink. They did so. At first Gardiner refused to serve them, but when Blanchard reminded Gardiner that he was a lodger at the hotel, and said that the other men were his guests, Gardiner, consented to serve them. They did not desire him to open the bar, and as the commercial room was engaged the men went into the store room to have their drinks. A few minutes after this a constable arrived on the scene. Mr. Johnstone said that Gardiner had confused his right to serve liquor to guests in the hotel, and he submitted that there was no decision in New Zealand as to whether a publican was justified in selling liquor to friends of guests. There was a common misapprehension as to the right of hotel-keepers in this matter. In conclusion, sounsel said that it was a case where some men going to the war had met friends, and had taken advantage for a last opportunity to have a drink. He submitted that the case was one for lenient * treatment. There was no suggestion that there had been any drunkenness or that the men had misbehaved themselves. Sub-Inspector Fouhy said that the case* as set out by Mr. Johnstone was, on the whole, accurate. The constable, however, stated that the bar was open and that it was in charge of a barman. It was true that the men from Awakino were going to Trentham, but they were not leaving Waitara until the Monday evening, and had all Monday for a parting drink. , Mr. Johnstone: The other men would then be at work. The Magistrate inflicted a fine of £3, and costs. / Charges of being on licensed premises, the Club Hotel, on Sunday, October 10, wcire then preferred against W. Kershaw, A. H. Loveridge, W. J. Jonea, and W. Lash. Mr. A. H. Johnstone appeared for the men, all of whom pleaded guilty. Kershaw, Loveridge, and Lash were each fined ss, and costs 7s, and Jones, a second offender, was fined 10s, and costs 7s. Similar charges against W. Fisher, V. Payne, P. Sparrow, and R. Backholm were withdrawn, as these men are now in training at Trentham.