DOMINION NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 August 1927, Page 3

DOMINION NEWS.

(By Telegraph— Per Press Association.) PLEA OF GUILTY. NEW PLYMOUTH, August 1. lii the Police Court, Pal lick Byrne, a fireman on the steamer Waipori. pleaded guilty to assault on Constable Parkinson on July 9th. lie was committed to the Supreme Court for .sentence.

j JUVENILE CRIME. A .FUDGE’S STRICTURES. AUCKLAND. August 1. Ibis is the first ease of juvenile crime I have had to deal with,” said •Justice llcrdmau. at the Supremo Court in committing three hoys who set fire to the Normal School', to Borstal Institute. For weeks, both had been engaged in a campaign ol plundering and incendiarism. The damage done by them during their short career of crime was between three thousand and four thousand pounds. Various fires were started, one at the Normal School, one at Rutland Street, another at some Salvation Army property, others at Avondale, Janie Street. Newmarket and one property belonging to the Citv Council. There were also charges of breaking, entering and theft against each accused. ’I wo of the hoys, Burgess and Williams, were over the age of fifteen and therefore eligible for Borstal. The other boy was nearly'fifteen. He had no power to send him hack to the Children's C ourt and had no power to order a birching in cases of arson, tor which the punishment was imprisonment. from reports before him. he saw that the home control of the accused was hopelessly had. They should, therefore, he placed in an institution which uas provided especially lor treatment of young offenders. The two older hoys would he detained at Borstal Institution for a term of not less than two years. He was of the opinion that the other boy should be similarly dealt with, although he was not yet fifteen. He ordered this lad to be detained but not with the older prisoners.

“RABBIT GAME” SKILL OR CHANGE ! WELLINGTON. .July 29. "Is the rabbit game played at the \\ inter Show a game of skill or chanceC' is a question on which the Magistrate {Mr Page) reserved his decision to-day in several cases which wer before him. The “rabbit game” is a mechanical device operated by electricity. There are twelve small tin imitation rabbits, each of which is attached to an endless chain. These move up a boarded slope in a groove, being propelled by means of a rubber ball which each cniu|setitor endeavours to jerk with a lever into a. box. Twelve competitors took part in every game, paying (id each to enter. The prize, a box of chocolates, was worth about Is 9d. The rabbit game was played at last year's Show and the Dunedin Exhibition, and no complaint had then been made. Members of the executive committee o. the Winter Show considered it a game of skill. Detectives said there was a noticeable difference in the levers, some being easier to operate than others, and the jumps made by the different rabbits were by n > means equal. They had .asked if our rabbit were winning all the time could any adjustments be made, and the reply was: “Yes. It wouldn’t do to have one rabbit w inning all the time. We would get, no business.”

'l’he defence was that the sending of the hall into the trap properly was a matter of skill and it was possible to regulate the length of tho jump of the rabbit l>v the manner in which this was done. CONFIDENCE TRICK. TIM ARC, July 29. “The trick of ‘ringing the change’ is a very old one. and from the manner in which accused played it, I think he showed that he is no new hand at the game,’’ said Detective J. R. Walker wen referring to Thomas Shcenan, aged 32 years, who appeared in the Magistrate’s Court before Messrs D. McLennan and A. L. Gee. J.P.’s yesterday, charged with stealing 30s, the property of Richard R. Barnes. Detective Walker stated that tho ease was only one of a series of confidence tricks. Accused on last race day had taken 30s to a storekeeper. Barnes, and had asked him |tn mind the money. He was to call for it the following Monday. Barnes instructed a hoy and a- girl in liis shop to hand the money over to the mail when he called for it on the Monday morning. Accused had called at the shoo and the young girl being ill charge she had handed over the 30s to the accused. Some time later accused had again called at the shop and had t>eeii given another 30s by the lad in charge. Accused who pleaded -guilty, said that he had been unable to obtain work. He had, however, earned about £ICO by working about Rakaia but he had taken to drink in Christchurch for a week, and had gone through what money he had. When he took to drink he lost lii.s senses. Air McLennan: Yes, I see that ! Have you been making a practice of this sort of tiling ? Accused: No. sir, and 1 cannot explain what made me call at the shop a second time. Mr McLennan : Don’t you think it was a most despicable and ooiite.mpi.ahle trick to have played on. a child ? Accused: Acs sir, and I’m sorry. Accused was convicted and sentenced to fwo months’ imprisonment with hard labour.

BIGAMY CHARGE. AUCKLAND. August 1. At the Police Court, Thomas Dawson Smith, aged (51. a company manager. pleaded guilty to a charge ot bigamy and was committed for sentence to the Supreme Court. He admitted he was married at Birkenhead. England, where he had a good business forty-two years ago. and also that be married a widow at Auckland in 1914.’ He had a family of seven children and lived happily with his family for twen-ty-one years, then owing to his wife’s changed attitude he emigrated in 1912. At a church bazaar he met a widow, whom he subsequently assisted in her business and for purely business reasons and to prevent people talking, married her.

A DOCTOR’S DEATH. DUNEDIN, August 1. The death occurred last night of Dr A. McP. Marshall, medical practitioner, aged 34. married with two children. He died soon after assistance was summoned. GUILTY OF THEFT. DUNEDIN. August 1. Robert Pryde Turnbull, and Thos. Turnbull were charged with breaking and entering a warehouse by night and stealing rabbitskins valued at £3O. They pleaded guilty and were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.