PROCEDURE IN A SLY-GROG CASE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 698, 24 December 1909, Page 17

PROCEDURE IN A SLY-GROG CASE.

WRIT 0F HABEAS CORPUS ASKED. ' (By TclcccapU.—l'rc« Assoclntiau.i ' ' Duqndin. December■ 23. ft-pplicatiou for a writo of habeas corpus to the gaoler of "InvercargiUitp show cause why C. J. Thurston should not bo discharged from custody .was heard'.to-day. befoie Mr. Justice Williams. Thurston was convicted "tit 1 Goro for keeping liquor, for sale, and sentenced to three • months'r imprisonment. The contention of his solicitor, Mr. Hanlon, was that .the warrant or order of; detention was invalid, and m'adfi ivithout jurisdiction'. • Thurston had pleaded guilty, and Inspectoi; Mitchell,wishing to prove a previous 'conviction, called the clerk of the Court to produce the criminal record book, but did not put him on oath. Thq book was handed to the magistrate, ; who asked if Thurston admitted the previous conviction. The reply- was "No." .Then . the magistrate asked if he' admitted being the same person, ahd'the reply was: "I don't know.'; _Slr. lianlon ivns hskod if his client had deliied'tjie conviction, !>nd : he repliod tnat hi hod neither admitted nor denied r , it.. Counsel proceeded to contend that tho magistrate,shbuld have proved; the previous conviction in the ordinary/way, i(n'd "in tho manner provided by law. lhis was not done, and it was never proved'that Thurston was convicted of a-previous oifeiico. After Mr. J. P.-.'M. Frn'ser,' Crown Solicitpt', had replied; the Jndgo.said that lie would givo his'dccision in ii dny.or'two, •