PROTECTING CHILDREN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 35, 10 February 1905, Page 4

PROTECTING CHILDREN.

MAGISTRATE EXPLAINS THE i^ w A FATHER SENTENCED, An unusual case came v Wardell, S.M., this morning, when poUce summoned a- dimiauti ?e -k* c named Gordon Thomas, for beito . c vX under the age of seven who traded is fk! city streets, that being an offeaee aJaial the by-laws. -e«**H Constable Taylor stated that on th. night of January 14 he found the littfc fellow asleep under a window-aIU b hud a bundle of newspapers, and »h witness told him to go home he criM and said he would be beaten by hit father if he did so before the mi-m were sold. Witness allowed liha v stay in the street to sell move paper* and at 11 p.m., seeing a crowd eouW he went to ascertain the cause. TV central figure was the little bor, wh! had fallen asleep on the pavement. H» was awakened, and was then put on 11 Pohsonby tram to be taken home by U brother. ' The magistrate called upon the bov'i father to give evidence, and Eparaim John Thomas went into the box. H« stated that three of his boys sold a weekly newspaper, and the 'defendant was assisting his brother, aged U, to dispose of them. The latter had u> structions to send the little boy hoot at 9 o'clock, and did so except on one occasion. The witness was questioned by the magistrate as to the reason for sending the boys out into the street* He said that he had been a grqeer in Por.sonby, but injured an arm twctvt months ago, lost his business?, and had only done two days' work during the, last 12 months. He had a eick>if c at home. The arm, he told the jnagistrate, had been well for three or four months. "I am quite certain you could have had more than two days' work fo twelve months," said the magistrate. '•'I have a very strong inclination to (to all the law will allow mc to prevent children of tender years being employ* ed in the streets at night." He'adiled that it was useless indicting a fine on a small boy. and upon reference to the Children's Protection Act founil that any person who caused a chl]<|; under the age of 14 to trade in any street between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. wsV liable to a penalty of £25 or three months , imprisonment. He dismissed the information against the boy, aiid; directed the police to immediately charge Ephriam John Thomas wjtii causing his son to trade in the streetj during prohibited hours. Thomas pleaded guilty to tljis' charge, and the magistrate, telling Urn that as he had been idle for twelv? months, his family would not miss him for a week, passed sentence of a week's imprisonment. The accused pleaded for morp lenient treatment, mentionTSg that he : tiad . never been in a P#Bsise Court before and tho magistral that ass pvMio attention had been Bmwn to an ipv nortant statute a.nd the ense was th» first of the kinci iv Auckland, he. would,'-, alter his decision an 4 order the'aajiisy ed to come up for sentence if s .called* upon.