RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 122, 6 July 1880, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

(Before Mr. F. Guinness, R.M.)

Saturday, July 3, drunkenness.

Henry Dudley was brought up on a charge of being drunk and disorderly the previous day. Accused pled guilty, adding that he was very sorry for. having indulged too freely, and begged the Court to be lenient with him, in which case, a repetition of the offence would not occur again. Fined 20s:, or the, usual alternative. , EXPLANATIONS. Mr. Joseph Baldwin stated that the reason he had not appeared at the Court on the previous day when called upon was purely through inadvertence, and not by any means intentional. The subpoena had been served, upon one of his employees,; and, as a matter of fact, he had never seen the Summons. He had been making preparations for attending the Court at 10 o’clock, when his barman told him .not to hurry, as the Court sat at eleven. His 1 Worship told Mr. Baldwin that,’while’accepting the explanation, he must remind him that it was a serious matter to disobey a subpoena of the Court, and advised Mr. Baldwin to be more careful in future with such matters. However, as there had been no intentional disrespect; to the Bench, his Worship accepted the apology. At a subsequent period, Mr. Bayliss, the other defaulting witness, also tendered an apology to the Bench, which his Worship accepted. A FRIENDLY WRESTLING MATCH. Tyson Hodgson, charged with being drunk and creating a disturbance in a licensed house, admitted having had a little drink on the occasion referred to, but the alleged disturbance was merely a case of wrestling with another man. Accused was fined 20s. —Another charge was laid against Hodgson, for a similar offence being committed in the public streets. Sergeant Felton said that the second information was for the continuance of the disturbance outside the hotel; but, as he knew accused to be a respectable farmer when sober, he would only ask for a light penalty to be inflicted. Fined ss. and costs. Mr. Bayliss, who was to have been a witness in this case, applied for his expenses ; but, in consequence of his failing to be in attendance on the previous day,his Worship refused the application. Mr. Baldwin, the, other witness, did not apply : for expenses. ' The Court then adjourned.