REGISTRY OFFICE CASE

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1191, 28 July 1911, Page 6

REGISTRY OFFICE CASE

THE BENCH MEETS IT STERNLY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.l Auckland, July 27. A case of the utmost importance to licensed keepers of registry offices , cams before Mr. Kettle, S.M., sittinx. in tho Magistrate's Court to-day. On tiio information of Inspector Hood, Charles William Buttle, who keeps a licensed registry office in Queen Street, was charged with what the Labour Department regarded as o wrongful art.

Inspector Hood, in stating the case, said that, in response to one of defendant's advertisements, a young man named Horace Armstrong—a baker who had recently arrived in the Dominion—applied for employment in the country. Defendant charged him .is. as registration fee, and, when Armstrong came back later on, he was informed that ho could have a position at 'Ohakune. He paid 18s. 6d. railway fee, and worked tfiere for a week, when he had a disagreement with. his employer. Then ho came ro Inspector Hood, claiming that ho had been overcharged by the defendant, and, when the matter was taken up by the Department, a refund Of as. Gd. was immediately made.

Mr. Quinn, for defendant, pointed out that the latter hail l:\3ii at. considerable trouble and expense in telegraphing to obtain employment for Armstrong, and lie naturally thought that he was entitled to an extra fee.

His Worship stated that, in his opinion, the otl'eiiC£ was a very serious one, and he doubted, whether it, was not a criminal act for defendant to extort from a person who was ignorant of the law, and "green" to the customs of the country, money which defendant (as the licensed proprietor of a registry office) should have known that he had no power to demand. His Worship added: "Unfortunately tho law does not give me power in the first instance lo cancel the license, otherwise I should have nn hesitation ill doing so. I have no hesitation in this case in imposing tho full penalty of o£s, costs 175., and witnesses' expense?, and the defendant's' license will bo endorsed. Moreover, I think that the facts of this case should be reported to the police. Young people come from the Old Country, and go to a registry office in •search of employment; they don't know the law; or how much they should pay, and they are 'plucked.'"