Fined for selling an ice cream wafer

A restaurant owner appeared at Stirling Sheriff Court accused of operating outwith legal trading hours.

Angelo Giananndrea, Upper Craigs, faced a charge under the Defence of the Realm Act which was introduced in 1914 and gave the Government sweeping wartime powers.

It was claimed that at a time when the shop should have been closed, an ice cream wafer was sold to a boy.

Mr Giananndrea, who had the assistance of an interpreter from Glasgow, pleaded guilty but said it was an accident that the boy had been served.

He was in the back shop at the time and his wife, serving in the front, did not notice it was after closing time and served the boy.

However, the fiscal said the accused was a“chronic offender”and tried everything to get round the act, even posting “scouts” to watch for police patrols.

The sheriff told him he was responsible for the conduct of his wife and added:“In this country we try to conduct things in a fair way and you must learn to do the same.”He was fined £5 with the alternative of 14 days’jail.

Meanwhile , the Observer noted there had been talk among some butchers of closing their shops for a short period in order to bring down the price of cattle and reduce the cost of meat to the public. However, the proposed action“fizzled out”due to the determination of two or three butchers to defy the call and remain open. This was not the case in other areas where butchers shops were shutting their doors for up to a fortnight.

The Observer said:“In other towns the majority would carry out their own idea and allow the minority to `gang their ain gait’, but not so in Stirling – there is generally the minority, which knows its own mind and sticks to it, that generally wins amongst any section of shopkeepers.”

However, the paper reported that the Cooperative Society had decided to close its butchers shops for a week from July 16, 1917.