SEQUEL TO RIOTS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 May 1932, Page 5

SEQUEL TO RIOTS

MORE SENTENCES

ONE WAS “AFTER SPECIALS."

(By Telegraph —Per Press Association ,

WELLINGTON, May 15. 1

At the Magistrate’s Court yesterday William Alexander 'George Lockhart, aged 24, wooden worker, pleaded not guilty to a charge of being a rogue and a vagabond, and that he was found armed with an offensive weapon witli felonious intent. He also denied having assaulted a constable.

Constable AlcPhee said that when he arrested the accused, he told accused he could ki.l a -man with that instrument. The accused' replied: “It-® Specials I’m after!” Witness eaid accused was well-known to him. He would describe him as a larrikin. Decision was reserved. Other sentences were imposed as follows:

Arthur James Timothy Rawlings, aged 30; twelve months’'imprisonment lor being a rogue and a vagabond, in that he was found armed with an offensive weapon with felonious intent j also three months’ imprisonment for thetti The terms are to be concurrent.. William James Baker, a farmer, aged 35; two months’ imprisonment for theft of a glass mug. Buker elected for a trial by jury on a charge of using indecent language and of being a rogue and vagabond in that he waa found armed with an offensive weapon with felonious intent.

George Newman, labourer, aged 42, wan lined £2 or fourteen days’, for using obscene language. Th e charge against him of inciting lawlessness was dismissed.

Thomas Thompson, labourer, aged 40; twelve months’ imprisonment for being fbund with an offensive . weapon with felonious intent Mervyn George Berry, a printer, aged 22; twelve months’ imprisonment for being found with an offensive weapon with felonious intent.

Felix Blaney, seaman, aged 43, fined £1 or 7 days’, for ugihg insulting language.

Citor Spearman Beeby, linotype operator, aged 1 41; three months’ imprisonment for inciting lawlessness. Leslie George Boyd, one month’s imprisonment for obstructing a constable';

William Reilly, a carpenter, aged 38; one month for inciting lawlessness. Archibaldi Chester, labourer, aged 27; three months’ imprisonment for wilful obstruction of a constable.

John Milan Smyth, a labourer, aged 21; three months’ imprisonment for theft of cigarettes.

—Wifffnm i Alexander 'George Lockhart, wbolihn worker, aged 24; twelve

months' for bcjilig In possession of art offensive weapon, with felonious in* tent, and three months' for assaulting a constable, his sentences to he cumulative. ' '

THE MAGISTRATE’S REVIEW,

BEFORE SENTENCING RIOTERS

WELLINTON, May 16

Before announcing the sentences on the Wellington rioters, Magistrate Page briefly reviewed the recent happenings, adding,—“My opinion is that this orgy of window breaking and looting was not the work of the genuine unemployed, but of a small band led by members of an organisation of Communists, operating on our midst, whose doctrine appears to be to foster mob violence sYjad (revolutionary disorder. As to the punishment to be imposed, there can be one answer—those who chose to ally themselves with the forces of disorder need not, expect lenient, treatment in this Court. By our laws, if several people form a common intention to prosecute, any unlawful purpose, as for example, the breaking of shop windows and stealing goods therefrom, each of them is a party to every offence committed by any of them, in the prosecution of such a common pu'rposei.”