THE ANTI-SHOUTING LAW.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 December 1917, Page 3

THE ANTI-SHOUTING LAW.

STRANGE CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY. Gisborne, Dee. 4. A somewhat unusual case was heard before the Magistrate, Mr. Barton, when Richard James, a barman at the Coronation Hotel, was charged with a broach of the anti-shouting regulations. Two constables employed as informers gave evidence that the defendant supplied (hem with liquor in breach of the regulations. When they challenged him subsequently he said he had been previously convicted ?f r. similar offence and he was not going o he caught again. Fie added that "hi., mouth was closed like an Auckland oyster.'' Mr. Burnard. for the defence, contended that the constables had identified •lames after the commission of the alleged ofl'enee merely because they had been informed that the barman who had served them on the night in question would be in the bar at a certain hour. That barman's place was taken on the particular occasion by defendant, and the constables immediately identified the wrong man. Four witnesses were called, all of them swearing that James was not in the bar when the alleged offence was committed. The Magistrate, in dismissing the case, said there was overwhelming evidence to prove that Che constables were under a misapprehension on the question of identity. A charge against the licensee of permitting shouting was withdrawn. Charges against two other licensees of permitting °hpnting were dismissed, and John Stockley, barman at the Gisborne Hotel, and Vincent Nicholas, barman at the Masonic Hotel, were each fined £50..