THE LICENSING ACT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10196, 25 March 1911, Page 5

THE LICENSING ACT.

ALLEGED BREACHES

MAN SENT TU UAOL,

At the Masterton Magistrates" Court yesterday, before Mr L. G. Reid, S.M., a number of breaches of the Licensing Act were heard.

John Brown, of Masterton, was charged that on February 6th he gave an order for liquor intended for the No-license area of Masterton, and that he failed to give the person to whom the order was given a statement inwriting of his name and address. He: was* further charged that he did' deliver liquor in the No-License areai while he had reasonable grounds to suspect that it was intended to be kept for sale.

Sergeant Miller prosecuted, and Mr G. H. Cullen appeared for accused. Accused pleaded not guilty. Samuel KecdweM, manager of the "W.F.C.A., Greytown, stated that-the accused purchased fourteen bottles of whisky, giving his address as Queen S%feetyMasterton.- .'•'':■"'' ;' ''.:•.>*

■Constable Brawn said he .-interviewed'' the awiscdj who stated that he. went .'] to Greytown on, March 6th and took the liquor to Carterton, where he stayed.fbr the night. He then brought it to Masterton and.took- it to a■ camp at Lansdowue.

John Brown, accused, stated that at the time he got the liquor he was working at Te Rangituinau. He admitted getting the liquor, as he told the constable. Accused asked Jones to stop > at Neilsen's boarding house, but the latter refused stating that he (accused) might be getting into trouble, so the liquor was taken and put into a trap which accused had borrowed, beyond the northern approach.- He came hack to Masterton the same day as Ee went to Greytown. The liquor was afterwards taken to the camp. .

Herbert Jones stated that he had driven accused to Grevtown and back, for which lie was naid £l. He corroborate accused's. Evidence. |;6iijcerhing the taking of the liquor over the bridge. Witness denied having made any statements about takinp the accused to, Greytowri to ' Brown. He remembered speaking/ about other cases.

Constable Brown gave rebutting evidence, as to ■> having ii)t»rri< 3T '7 : !d last'witness about-Ms taking Brown to; Greytowhi. ■■"■ •:'";• , : .,;v-"';J :i ' ■■ ■*".■:.•,' ;1 V '.. >'■';• * : ' •...On.;the evidence His-Worship said acrsSi had reasonable grounds to suspect ihtf, the liquor' wasyfcooe kebt -for sale,,: irii- , ;;|os*s; a ? 'cosj^^ivr;-A%^ 'fine 1 . '•'' ■■■ ; i- , --;v''-:^.- A _/-. .:'■•;■'-■.. -c

John Congdon was charged' with having given an order for- liquor'intended for the No-License area without haying given his name and- ad-; dress to the persons .to whom the order ■was' given,' arid .-with having brought liquor into the No-License area :of , Masterton while having reasonable grounds to suppose that it was" intended to be kept for sale. : ,"r " '■:■'•' •On the amplication of Mr Cullen the «ase was adjourned. Bail was allowed in accused's own recognisance of £lO, and,one surety of £ls. Herbert Jones was charged with having delivered liquor into the NoLicense area of Masterton. having reasonable grounds to suspect that it wa-s to he kept for sale. ; Constable Brown said he saw ac- '■ < cused on the 10th March in Queen Street with reference to Mr A. Hayes purchasing three dozen, of beer uvy Greytown. Accused; took. Hayes to Greytown, where tEe.latter got some whisky. Accused left Hayes in Queen; Street, and has not-seen, him since. Constable Ingram, of Carterton, said that accused had been in Carterton practically everv'day lately. He came, in a car which is known as the "droppers'" car. ■•

- Herbert Jones stated that Hayes hired his car to go to'Greytown,, where he (accused) got three dozen boitles of beer. Hayes said the beer was to be taken to Watson's boardinghouse, 'but Hayes put it under one of the bridges .at the northern approach. Witness thought that Hayes took it out to the Coast where he was working subsequently. Accused remembered buying ;-f6ur dozen of beer for a man named Ransby working at the freezing works. , Jffie case-wa®

>, Emily Hayiland and Richard Haviland were'charged with keeping liquor for sale in ,the No-License area of Masterton.

: CuUen: appeared for the accused who pleaded not guilty. ■',;..'' - ~ cused persisted in carrying on sly-grog selling. A raid was made by the police, when a quantity of liquor was seized. Since then another raid Had been made, and more liquor seized. Constable Dumphy stated that on two occasions fie watched the house of accused. One night he saw five or six men standing near Pinhey's stables, all more or less under the influence of liquor. Two of the men went in the direction of "accuseds' house. Witness went quietly up to the door and distinctly heard the clink of bottles. He heard them preparing to come away, so he went on to the footpath outside; When the men approached him; he lit a match and saw two bottles of. beeiv On saying, "Good night, what have you, beer?" he was answered "Yes." Onpther oca several men the house at different times. Witness was present with Sergeant Miller when: the', house was searched. In a ; back room ten bottles of beer were found.. Six bottles of draft beer were found in,a front room, together with' some hop beer. One bottle of brandy and one of whisky were also discovered in the oven. Mrs Haviland refused to say what the whiskv was for 5> or where she got it. Witness again watched the house after the execution of the'first warrant, and saw a number of people going in and out" of the house.

Constable Bird state-;! that he also had watched .Haviland's" house and had seen numbers of men entering and coming out of the house. On the 7th' at 10 p.m. a motor-car went into the yard, atad'he hoard the clinking of full, bottles. Ho saw a taxlcab come to the corner on another occasion, when two men each took a case from tho taxi-cab and carried them into the side gate at Haviland's house, and disappeared towards the back. Whei the cases were being carried witness distinctly heard the cliijk nf, full l„-{-tles. -'Witness %-s wresent at'the second searcii nade of- the bou.<;<"s: , Behind the h iclc door a both* (*f beer wns found. Mrs Havihnvl denied 1n rli". Sergeant had any more bee»*. She also denied ttet man Congdon had bnrapht h^er. .. to the house. the foimcT another bo€tlo containing boor behind a box. In addition to these

mentioned, witness saw a full bottle standing on the kitchen table, which had been found by another of the search party. Haviland told the Sergeant to go and find out where he got the liquor from on a question being put. Haviland was in a very offensive mood, and witness thought he was slightly tinder the influence of liquor. Cross-examined by Mr Cullen witness said he would not have had time to intercept the men carrying the liquor from the taxi-cab before they got to the house.

Constable Brown gave evidence in which he stated that ho also had ou different occasions seen numbers «>f men going in and out of Mr Havilaud's house under suspicious circumstances. "Witness corroborated tho evidence of the previous witness with regard to tho second raid made on the premises.

Sergeant Miller stated that -.me day he saw two young Maori men come out of Haviland's house and a woman go in. Witness stated that he had ween Haviland at the railway station about an hour before the search and he had -in. his. possession a kit containing full bottles of beer. "When the search was about to bo made Haviland said he had four bottles of beer only, but on sea-ch-ing a considerable quantity was fourd. •Haviland used offensive language, and refused to admit where the liquor was procured. On'the occasion of bhe execution of the second warrant Haviland was again;very abusive. Witness told the 'accused that..'a man named Congdon was seen to bring liquor into they house., but. both; accused denied any knowledge of the fact. Neither of them appeared to know .anything " of the ihan Congdon. . .', '■ "

Sergeant Miller further stated that, counsel for the defence had admitted that he could not bring evidence to contradict the fact that the taxi-cab drove from a hotel in Carterton to the corner of Dixon and Park Streets, and that it contained two cases, one of' .which had two dozen bottles of beer in it, and the other one dozen. • This concluded the evidence for the j prosecution. , ■ Mr Cullen submitted that there was no corroboration of the constables' &vi- J denqe concerning th<Hr ; watches on the house- of tho accused^'As far us !ihe matter of Congdon bringing the beer to the house, that might be perfectly true, but neither of the accused knew anything of it. Richard Haviland, one ot' the accused, admitted bar bg the beer which Sergeant Miller said he had seen him with, at the railway station. , : At the timo: when tho first raid was made witnesswas having tea. He told the SergeanVtliat the four bottles were in ;the bedroom, and that he had drunk the bontents of the other bottle. He denied knowledge of the other five bottles. Accused got the bottle of brandy: at Carterton,a month before,the raid for the children, who were: suffering with whooping cough. Accused >vKs aware of-the fact that his wife hadfa bottle of whisky, but she did not know it was in the oven. The usual time of accused to retire at night was 9.30, and by 10.30. the time when Congdon,was supposed to have brought the beer to the place, he would be sound asleep. Accused did not need to look for work owing to the fact that his motor-car I earned him a fair livelihood.

By Sergeant Miller: Accused had done only one day's work in the last three months. Accused had bought beer from Cai'terton on one occasion since lie was released from custody. Emily Haviland,! wife of Richard Haviland, stated that she had put the bottle- of;■•wh.isky in .;' the- overi .to, hide ft'from" tfie boys, because;.she', wanted it for her own car because> it would employ; Herbert, who .was weak, and would provide a livelihood.- The nrice : paid was jE4Ov Herbertgenerally brought home £4 to £5 v- "-(iek. being' pot- s for, hire qfthe : '. The. of the car rfm into 'o-bn'i+. aOs * week. Her son William ! iiaid W,£l. wr w*veki Accused denied kno'Hpri.tp, of Conp-don b.ri.'ifrwa: b-vv t-"> +!"-> house. Sb? hud, repeatedly \vnr"«d:th<>hovs fl.ppinst. - n-11 or t'o t-iio bouse in case of ''"to. trouble. had never. Kold'ahy liouor in the house, nor did she think her hu«bn.nd or her boys' done so.. Accused hnd seen s»ch numbers of n«?ople in tbe as the evidence "r>f the M- 0 -jld lead one to believe had been ',/'■", Mr Cullen held tbot, "there'was no evidence as to Mrs Fovilav.d hnving been a party to any sales. She had al- ] so given a satisfactory explanation about the whisky! i '.'l ■! His.Worship agreed with.Mr Cullen in this. respect.; With regard to Richard 'Haviland, His Worship said, that no one could morally believe that the liquor was in the house for their own use only. The evidence of the constable made him believe that so.'many visitors would not visit the house fof the purpose of listening to a graphaphone or playing cards. The evidence of Constable Dumphy stated that he heard the clink of bottles inside_ the window.:,. He. would give Mrs Haviland the benefit of the slight doubt I that, existed. Sergeant Miller suggested that some 1 advico should be given to Mrs Haviland. : ' i . His Worship agreed, and advised Mrs Haviland to cease the practice and send her sons to work so they , would not get her into trouble. The case against the female accused was dismissed, but Richard Haviland was sen- ' tenced to three months' imprisonment.