YOUTH CASTIGATED

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21232, 1 October 1940, Page 6

YOUTH CASTIGATED

INDICTMENT FROM BENCH HAD BEER ON CREDIT (By Telparapli.—Pros*. Annotation) WELLINGTON, Tuesday The opinion that the police should at once investigate the administration ot the licensing laws in the Stratford district was expressed in the Supreme Court to-day by Mr Justice Ostler when admitting James Ronald Hugh Morrieson, aged 18, student, to two years’ probation for failing to stop after an accident. His Honour was commenting on the fact that Morrieson had been able to obtain two dozen bottles of beer from a brewery on credit, and said the facts connected with the case disclosed a disgraceful state of affairs. Addressing Morrieson he said: ‘Here are you, a boy of only 18 years of age. You are not earning a penny and are apparently living on the charity of your mother, and yet you seem to be able to own a motor-car. I do not know whether you actuallv own .it but you have the use of ir, and in these days of shortage of petrol you seem to have petrol to gj to dances. Something Wrong With Law That is not so bad, but here are you, a boy of 18, able to go to a brewery and buy two dozen bottles of beer and not even pay for it. They take this order and book it to a boy like you. “It seems to me there is something wrong with the administration of the Licensing Law in your part of the world, and it seems to me to be the duty of the police to find out how a boy is able to obtain two dozen of beer on credit. I think the police ought at once to take in hand an investigation of that. “That is beside the point. Having supplied yourself with this beer and picked up a car full of young bloods of your own age, you go to a dance, drinking on the way. What right have you to do that? What will your mother think? You go to a dance and then drive off without lights. You feel a bump and have not the moral courage to stop and see whether you havp hit something. Stay in After Eight “You do not deserve much leniency at all. You are a university student hoping to get a degree, and you ought to be one of the young fellows setting an example in the ecuntry instead of behaving like that. “Solely on the ground of your youth I propose to accept the recommendation of the probation officer and grant you probation.” The conditions laid down by the judge included an order not to attend dances and not to be out after eight. Morrieson was ordered to pay costs £4 8s lid and his license was cancelled. with two years’ deprivation.