Last week left the story hanging, with Constables Bennett and Bee finally enjoying a long awaited win against Mr T.J. O’Shea on 19 July 1905 acting for James A. Hourston, licensee of the Oriental Hotel in Albert Street, Brisbane, on the sale of liquor on a Sunday. The magistrate convicted Mr. Hourston and fined him £5 payable within three days. Mr. O’ Shea then gave formal notice of appeal. Unfortunately for the police they lost licensing cases the majority of times and had to pay costs. The difficulty in winning a licensing case seemed to stem from stipulations in the 1885 Licensing Act which while stating that no liquor could be sold on a Sunday, the Act did not apply to lodgers, travellers, or disabled persons. These excuses were often the ones that swayed the Police Magistrate towards a dismissal of such cases.
On Wednesday 25 October, Constables Bennett and Jessop were in court giving evidence against Patrick Talty licensee of the Royal Hotel, on a charge of keeping his premises open for the sale liquor on Sunday 1 October. It was a very involved case with poor Bennett again being verbally pushed and prodded by Mr. O’Shea, particularly in reference to his evidence about the existence of a bell at the rear of the Royal Hotel which signaled to those inside that someone wanted entry to drink. After many adjournments of the case Patrick Talty was eventually found guilty on 25 November and fined £5, including £2 2s. in costs. Two weeks prior to the end of the case Talty brought a charge of perjury against Constable Bennett for lying about the presence of a bell at the hotel. The Bennett perjury court case went before a bench of eight magistrates including Police Magistrate Ranking. On 2 December 1905 the Bench, by a majority of four, discharged the Constable and no charge was brought. Talty subsequently tried to have his conviction overturned and took the case to the full Supreme Court where his testimony was found to be erroneous and the case was thrown out.
On 30 December 1905 both Constables James Bennett and Alfred Bee were awarded £10 and £7 respectively (from the Police Reward Fund) by the Home Secretary Mr. Airey, for the loyal and fearless manner in which they carried out their duties in connection with the enforcement of Sunday closing clauses in the Licensing Acts. This event was also covered in the newspapers and not in a very nice way.
The awards to Constables James Bennett and Alfred Bee of £10 and £7 respectively from the Police Reward Fund on 30 December 1905, did not go down well with the printed media. Truth, 31 December 1905, page 2.
Between July 1905 and May 1906, Bennett, Bee and a number of other police officers, brought the licensees of no less than 18 hotels including the Albert, Brisbane Club, Burke, Commercial, Exchange, Exhibition, Grosvenor, King’s, Lennon’s, National, New Crown, Newmarket, Oriental, Pineapple, Royal, Ulster, Union and the York, to court charged with illegal Sunday trading.
The Warwick Examiner reported developments in the service of alcohol in response to tougher Sunday trading laws;
The more rigid administration of the law with respect to Sunday trading has produced a new development in the retail liquor business in the metropolis. The licensed victuallers are now supplying their customers with half-gallon bottles of special designs, in which beer purchased on Saturday night may be kept over Sunday, and surreptitious visits to hotels during prohibited hours are thereby rendered unnecessary. Over 4000 of these special bottles have been sold to Brisbane hotel-keepers during the past two months and some have gone to Ipswich. This new feature has enriched the slang vocabulary, a clear barrel-shaped bottle having been christened “Bennett,” while a dark-colored flask-shaped utensil is known to fame as “Bee.” Thus the names of two policemen who have been most actively engaged in the suppression of Sunday trading will be handed down to posterity very much in the same way as have been the names of Lord Spencer and Lord Sandwich, of whom it was said the former invented half a coat, and the latter half a dinner. (Warwick Examiner and Times, 2 May 1906, page 2)
On 21 June 1906 James Bennett applied to resign from the Queensland Police sighting his desire to leave the colony. Why he chose to leave is not explained in his personnel file or in the newspapers, but perhaps his rather tumultuous career in the pursuit of illegal liquor dispensing just wore the poor man out.
Constable Bee continued on with career and between the time that Bennett resigned and October 1907 when he was transferred to Mount Morgan, his name appears in the newspapers another 34 times in most instances on the licensing front, but he also was in court giving evidence to back up his charges against a conductor for running an overcrowded tram where for once, the Truth newspaper said nice things about him.
The Truth newspaper with nice things to say about Constable Alfred Bee, 2 September 1906, page 4.
Although in October 1906, the Truth were still at Bee’s heals when he went for publicans and licensees over infringements so the Liquor Act.
The Truth takes a poetic stance on Constable Bee, 10 October 1906, page 5.
Bee branched out geographically when he and Constable Buckley attempted to prosecute Mrs. Hannah O’Loughlin, licensee of the Osborne Hotel at Sandgate, for selling alcohol on a Sunday. In an unusual twist Mrs. O’Laughlin admitted to the charge.
Alfred Bee’s enjoyed 29 years of service, he certainly seemed to have very broad shoulders. From Mount Morgan he moved to Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Cloncurry, Cairns before returning to Brisbane ending up in South Brisbane. He retired in August 1934 at the age of 60.
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This story was written by Curator Lisa Jones from the best resources available and information supplied by the Queensland Police Museum. Our thanks go to Jon Kehrer for bringing the story to our attention. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT: Bennett & Bee Part 2 – broad shoulders and beer bottles” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode