MAYOR’S COURT.

Evening Star, Issue 2834, 19 March 1872, Page 2

MAYOR’S COURT.

This Day. (Before E. F. Ward, Esq., J. P., and James Brown, Esq., J.P.) DRUNKENNESS. Matthew Bearing was fined 20s, or twentyfour hours’ imprisonment, WIFE DESERTION, A charge of wife desertion preferred against William M‘Dowall was dismissed, the evidence failing to support it. THEFT. John Willis, alias Lewis, alias Lee, and Harry Pearce, alias “ Meerschaum,” were charged with stealing a pair of boots from the Criterion Hotel. Willis’s excuse was that he had stayed at the Criterion Hotel on the night prior to the robbery, and in the morning he went into the next bedroom to get some matches; but he denied having stolen anything.—Pearce had nothing to say for him elf.—The Bench thought the community should be rid of both men for some time, and sentenced each to six calendar months’ hard labor. The same prisoners were charged with stealing a pair of gold earrings, the property of Miss M‘Lean. The prosecutrix, who is barmaid at the Imperial Hotel, said that on the morning of the 11th she missed the earrings, which she had placed on her dressingtable. On the Tuesday following Pearce went to the Queen’s Arms Hotel in company with Willis, and representing the earrings to be the property of the latter, obtained an advance of 12s upon them, dividing the money with Willis in the presence of the landlord. The Commissioner informed the Bench that Willis was released from Lyttelton Gaol on Feb. 12 ; after doing a two years sentence, and immediately came down here to carry on his old practices. Mr Ward said the prisoners would only have an opportunity of residing in one place in Dunedin for some time to come. Willis had been very foolish in coming to Dunedin because the police were smart enough to find him out. Both men would be sentenced to six mouths hard labor ; the sentences to he accumulative. ASSAULT. Jno. Kaye, arrested on a charge of assaulting his wife, was discharged, having “ squared” the matter. He was fined 1s and costs for contempt of court. VAGRANCY. Mary Thompson was charged with keeping a disorderly house. Constable Turnbull deposed to having visited the defendant’s house in Walker street on several occasions, and found there several noted thieves and abandoned characters. The Bench considered the case proved, and sentenced the defendant to 7 days hard labor. OBSCENE LANGUAGE. Sarah Zatkins, Mary Ann Sutton, and John Dale were each fined 20s, or 48 hours imprisonment. OFFENCES AGAINST THE BYE-LAWS. Mrs Fitzsimmons, allowing cows to wander 2s 6d and costs ; Alex. Thompson, driving round street corners at other than a walking pace, 1s and costs. Information preferred against Isabella Wilson and Ellen Farwood, were dismissed with a caution.