MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2651, 23 December 1915, Page 9

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

THEFT FROM A BOY. Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., presided in the S.M. Court yesterday morning.

A middle-aged man nanie(l Jonn Boden Lawson pleaded guilty to a charge that on Doceniber 18 ho. stole ia from Frank O'Donoghue. .

Chief-Detective Boddam said that complainant in the case was a lad, 15 years of age. On December 17 he came down to Wellington with the accused i'roiu tho sheep station at which lie was employed. On, arrival in Wellington acoused,' know' ing that the boy had money, told ham to look out for it, saying that there might be pickpockets about. " O'Donoghue in the end gave a five-pound note to the accused, telling him to mind it for him .until iliSy should meet again at an appointed place t that afternoon. Lawson did not keep the and O'Donoghue did not get his, money. The boy reported the matter to the police, and accused was 'arrested. When apprehended Lawson said that he had got drunk, and that he could not remember receiving the J!5 note. Lawson had only Is. 6d. in his pockets then. Chief. Detective Boddam said that the man Lawson was probably not a thief. Nothing was known of him, and apparently lie was a hard-working man whose lapse was entirely due to drink. The Magistrate said he would take a lenient view of (lie case. Lawson would be convicted and ordered to oomo up for sen. tencs when called upon, ou condition that the £b wag-repaid to the boy within 1-1 days. STEALING IN A HOTEL. 1 James Choat, a soldier, pleaded pot guilty to a charge of having stolen two coats from, the Albion Hotel on June 21, li'M, long before he joined the forces. The evidence was that Choat was seen upstairs in the hotel on tho day when the coats were .lost, and that he'offered the coats for, dale" to a second-hand dealer. Accused had a criminal lecord. He was convicted and sent to gaol for two months. CHINESE AND THE POLL-TAX. • Mr. D. G. A. Coqper I! .S.M_.,.|;ave i his.re.served, judgment of the non-payment 1 of'poll-tax by or ou' behalf of two Chinese, ; a man .and a woman. ' \ Mr. P, S. K. Macaiisey appeared'for the Crown, ajid Mr. .11. G. Jeliicoe for the defendants. Won Chou Lin, a woman, was charged with having entered, the Dominion Mahout paying a poll-tax, and Chau Ye Hop, her husband, was charged with having aided her in the commission of an offence. The Magistrate found that.. the . case against tho woman was not proved, aim dismissed the information. The man was convicted and fined £10, Security was fixed tor oosts of appeal in' both cases'. OTHER CASES. Four persons, three women and one man, were charged with having to do-with the management of a house of ill-fame in • Haiuing Street. All the women had records, and were chargad with vagrancy in varying degrees. Leonora Parker and Annie M'Gratn were eaßhlentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Wilhelmina •Blinks, a younger woman with a less formidable record, was convicted and com- 1 'juitted-to the Salvation Army Home lfu--12 months. The man, 'Charles Smith, was charged with having kept a brothel,- ana with being an idle and disorderly person. The Magistrals that Smith was apparently the cause of all the trouble, but unfortunately he could hot be pnnisheu do heavily aa the unfortunalo women. Smith''was sentenced .Jo,.three monthsimprisonment on each oi tii.- two charges, the sentences to be cumulative.

,Aniy Hunt pleaded' not guilty to a charge of being an\idle and disorderly person in that she kept evil company. She was convicted.

Mr. J. J. M'Grath, who appeared for the accused, said that most of Hunt's trouble was due to drink, and, he asked the Magistrate to issue a prohibition order against her.\ The Magistrate said he would try the experiment. Accused would be convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon, and 'a. prohibition order would be issued against her.

Theresa. Russell was . charged with vagrancy. v ~ Mr. P. W. Jackson, for the accused, asked the Magistrate to record a conviction and to allow tho woman to get away from her evil associates by leaving the City' for a period of not less than one year. The Magistrate agreed to follow , this course. Accused wag convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upoii, and she was directed to leave the City before the end of this week. Eight persons, all males, were charged with insobriety. One, Joseph Keys, a sturdy young man who had been drunk rather often, of Me, asked for yet another chance in order that he might enlist. The Magistrate, however, said that Keys had had too many chances already, and imposed a fine of <£2, in default seven days' imprisonment. , Reginald ICaynes was charged with having been found in a stato of helpless drunkenness in Willis Street on December 15. Since that date he had been receiving medical treatment in prison, but the report on his present condition was' such that the Atngistrate decided to send tho man down for further medical examination. .' .