MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1413, 13 April 1912, Page 12

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

THE CONTINENTAL CAFE. £10 IN PINES, (Before Dr. M'Arthur, S.M.) Yesterday, at the Magistrate's Court, Ebstatheos Gallate was charged with'(l) disconnecting- a certain convenience at the Continental Cafe, "Willis Street, with a sower, without having permission to ilo so; (2) failinft to seal the opening as' required; and (3) allowing refuse to accumulate so as to causo an offensive smell. Mr. J. O'Shoa, City Solicitor, said tliat the ease was one : requiring careful consideration by the Court. .Defendant: carried on a refreshment room and oyster business. He had disconnected the convenience, and had left if in such a way as to provide an entrance for sewer gas. That compartment had been used as a place in which to open oysters. Also, refuse had been allowed to accumulate, and remain on the premises. The city engineer hail reported that, ill his opinion, this was a case for a' heavy penalty. Mr. A. Fair, who represented the defendant, said that the ease was not quite as serious as Mr. O'Shca had stated, and matters had now been put right. His Worship: "These peoplo havo been hero almost as long as 1 have, and they know perfectly well all about theso things. It is disgusting to find out that a place you go into to get a few oysters, or a bit of lunch, is kept in this way. The cart goes round every day to take awav their rubbish, or whatever it is." Defendant was fined amounts which totalled JCIO, and, in addition, he was required to pay costs, i' 3 3s. STANDING IN AISLES. Charles M'Malion and Marshall John Donnelly, proprietors of the Now Theatre, were charged with allowing peoplo to remain standing in the passnge-ways at tlieii theatre. The City Solicitor (Mr. J. O'Sheal stated that the overcrowding had been such that the corporation had had to tako notice of it. Mr. .T. J. M'Grath, counsel for the defendants, said that the by-law certainly lnado it an offence to stand in (ho passages, nud that that was why the defendants had pleaded guilty. However, the breach hiwl occurred through an oversight, and at a time of changing programme, when some people were leaving and others entering tho theatre. " Mr. O'Sliea remarked that the vsition was not just as stated by Mr. M'Grath. Defendants were fined. .£1 AFTER THE PICNIC. Wilson Stewart, for whom Mr. E. M. Sladden ■ appeared, pleaded guilty to charges of travelling on a trnmcar without paying his fare, and of using offensive language in the car. Mr. Sladden said that Stewart had been under the influence of liquor nt the time. He had attended tho carters' annual picnic, and had drunk too much. Dr. M'Artliur: If this is a result of a picnic, tho less picnics wo havo tho better. Defendant was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling .£3 7s. HIS WORSHIP'S REGRET. "You will be sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and my only regret is that I cannot mnke it more," were Dr. M'Arthur's words in disposing of the caso of an old, grey man named Klaus Neilson. "Thank you," was the defendant's reP '&eilson was charged with beini* idle and disorderly, and in their evidenco Sergeant Itutledge and Constable Doyle deposed that Neilson was tho tenant of a Tui Street liouse, where undesirable , women lived»under,.appalling conditions. Neilson's age was given as 71 years. OTHER CASES. Alexander Reid and Alexander Johnson were each fined ss. for allowing horses to wander.

Charles Robert Elford was fined 10s. for leaving a vehiclo unattended, and "Walter Brown ss. for driving a cab round a corner nt more than a walking pace. For cycling on a footpath in Jervois Qnav, Charles Archibald Falkland was iincd ss. Charles Dichl was fined .£1 for impeding a tramcir whilo ho was driving a motor-car. Norton B. Smith was fined ss. for paying an assistant wages by means of a crossed cheque. Mainland and Barr wero fined ss. for erecting a scaffolding of over 10ft. in . height without first notifying tho corporation's inspector. Joseph Tlioums Stuart _ Barker _ and Thomas Coleman were convicted of insobriety, and discharged; Archibald M'Lean was fined 10s.; and Margaret Webb was remanded till April 19 for curative treatment. ■