LIQUOR AT MOKAU.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1919, Page 6

LIQUOR AT MOKAU.

BROUGHT BY A LAUNCH. CREW BEFORE THE COURT. A six-foot length of rope, a sack, and ft 5-gallon jar of beer were conspicuous features in some cases heard in the New Plymouth Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon, when Frank Rattenbury, Geroge H. King, and Thomas Evans were charged with, on October 31st, delivering I'quor at Mokau wharf, which is a place within a proclaimed area. Senior-Sergt. Willis prosecuted. Mr. R. H. Quilliam appeared for defAidants, who pleaded not guilty. Frank Rattenbury' was also charged, and pleaded guilty to purchasing liquor at the Waitara Hotel, to be taken to a proclaimed area, without notifying the seller that the liquor was to be taken to a prohibited district. The question of Rattenbury's right on account of previous convictions, to be Iried by jury, was mentioned, and after consultation he elected to be dealt with summarily. Other informations were also la! .1, including that of taking liquor into i proclaimed area without a signed order giving the name of the purchaser, and also that of unlawfully delivering liquor at the Mokau wharf, in packages'which contained no description of their contents on lihe outside. Accused pleaded guilty to all the charges. ' CASE FOR THE POLICE. Senior-Sergt. Willis, in outlining the facts of the case, said the three defendants were the master and crew of the launch Marakopa, which had been recently wrecked. On the morning of October 21st the launch arrived at the Mokau wharf. The local police officer (Constable Blaikie) was there at the time, and saw the defendants on the launch. King was the master, Evans was operating the winch, and Rattenbury was on board. Blaikie saw a small boat on the Forward hatch of the Marakopa. He saw Rattenbury lift a sack containing something and put it in the small boat. The 6mall boat was then swung into the river and tied up to the launch. The constable had occasion to leave the wharf at that time for a few minutes, and on his returning he noticed the small boat had been moved, and the parcel in it had disappeared. He saw King, and asked if ie had any liquor on board, and was told that they had a small quantity for their own use. He was showed a 2-gallon jar which contained about half-a-gallon I here was no label on the jar to say what it contained. King said he did not know if there was any other liquor on board. The constable then asked Rattenbury if he knew if there was any liquor on board, and he replied that there was a little in the cabin. He asked him what about the sack that was in the little boat, and what had become of it, and he said he did not know. Constable Blaikie then went to the other side of the launch and noticed a rope over the side hanging down into the river, and could see there Was a sack at the end of the ijope. When pulled up it was found that it was the package missed from the small boat and was actually a five-gallon jar of beer He asked King about it, and King said he knew nothing of it, or who it belonged to. He then asked Rattenbury about it and he denied all knowledge of it. The constable taxed him with having placecd It in the small boat previously, but this he denied. The jar was opened in the presence of a .T.P. and other persons on the wharf, and was found to contain beer. Evans I lien came up and claimed [that the beer was his, and that he had i purchased it from a hotelkceper in Wai[tara. On being asked why it j,,,,; ]„, cn put over the side of Ihe launch, he. had given what the Senior-Sergeant railed the very remarkable answer that it was put over while at sea for the purpose of keeping it cool. This package contained no label denoting what it contained The Senior-Sergeant said he thought the evidence would establish that the liquor had been taken into a proclaimed area, and had not been properly labelled. Evidence was given by Constable Blaikie on the lines of the statement made by Senior-Sergeant Willis.

JUDGMENT RESERVED. -In cross-examination by Mr. Quiiliam he said he was satisfied Rattenbury had not seen him at the fclfne he put the sack tn the small boat on the launch. He had never examined the launch before, though he had been 011 the wharf on several occasions when she arrived there. Re-examined by Senior-Sergt. Willis the witness said lie had occasion to watch the arrival of the launch Marakopa, as on several occasions when she had arrived there had been drunkenness on the Part of both Maoris and Europeans. He had had similar experience at Awakino when on going there and finding drunkenness in the place he had also found it had coincided with tike arrival there of the Marakopa. Rosanna Leslie, wife of the proprietor of the Waitara Hotel, deposed to Rattenbury purchasing 5-gallon and 2-eallon jjars of beer on October 30th. He said nothing about it being taken to a proclaimed area. Evans never purchased a t>-gallon or jar of beer about that time. Mr. Quiiliam submitted that as the liquor was purchased for the consumption of the men on the wharf there was actually no offences such as were set out in the informations. There was no evidence that the liquor had been purchased on account of or for delivery to any person, or that it had been delivered to any person. The retaining of the liquor in their own possession could not be held to be a delivery. He submitted that as the clauses were highly penal, so the proof should be of high degree. The quantity of liquor was 110 doubt considerable, but he pointed out that what was regarded as considerable in other places was in wality only a small consignment for Mokau. The Magistrate said he had had no experience of this class of case, and would take time to consider the matter. He would fix the penalty in the case in which Rattenbury had pleaded guilty, when giving his decision, which would be on Thursday, 27th inst.