“CONSIDERABLE MEANS.”

Hokitika Guardian, 19 December 1917, Page 4

“CONSIDERABLE MEANS.”

A XT) A COMMENSURATE I'TNE. Air. S. E. ArCiirthy, g.AI. ar Welling ton dealt with the ease of May Egan who, in the days •before six o’clock closing, was found in the bar of the New' Commercial Hotel after G p.m. The charge wa s laid under the War Regulations which prohibited a woman from entering a bar after that hour. Air. E. W Jackson represented the accused wiio pleaded guilty. He said that Egan entered the bar merely to get a parcel that she had left there with a friend in the afternoon. The parcel contained rhubarb, which, she proposed to eat on the following day. Sergeant Wade gave evidence that on October 4, about 9 p.m. he and a constable found the accused laughing and chatting in the bar among a number of men. Asked who she was , she gave a fictitious nnnio at first hut afterwards gave her own name. Egan was reputed to he a prostitute, hut had not been convicted of being one. She was half drunk on the night .in question. Air. Jackson: I s she not a girl of considerable moans?—Witness: “T do not know anything about her means.” Air. Jackson: I know she i s a girl of considerable means. His Worship: I have known several prostitute s who died very wealthy. I look upon this excuse about the rhubarb as a very thin one, ATr Jackson. If she had to get a parcel she could have gone to the office.

Mr. Jackson You will understand that tlic friend was an employee in the bar. His Worship replied that that would not have prevented Egan from getting the parcel through the office. She would be fined £2O. Mr. Jackson (in doubt): £2. sir? His Worship: £2O. Mr. Jackson: Will vour Worship allow time in which to pay? i His Worship: If she- is a girl of considerable means she can get the monev. No time wll bo allowed. Mr. Jackson; Well Sir, £2O is a pretty stiff sum. Will you allow one week sir? His Worship: I will not Mr. Jackson: Twenty-four hours sir ? Hi s Worship—T am not going to grant time. Mr. Jackson: All I can say, sir, is that it is a very unusual thing for a first offender to eome before Court and be . His 1 Worship: Arc you the Judge or am I? I have given by decision, and nothing you can say will induce me to alter it.