RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 286, 29 August 1874, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT

?. .i ■*.*! : - -. 20th August. '~% - (Before n. A.'Stratford, Esq., R.M.) \T i he;Q,cfcon v. William Arthur Hase- ,; M'Cluskey for the ■' ' ut* n -' s '"fa™ oll ** o0 * "which was for board and goods on a false pre- . was read-, and amended, by permission of the Court. The Sub-Inspector then called John Cqgan, who, being sworn,* said : I know the accused by sight. On the 10th of *• July he came up to me, while standing at tho rear of my own hou«e,«and said, How are £& u ' Mr " Co S an ? I said. How are yoju-rßill ? t He then 'asked me in to have B"drink. I went with him into the bar of . my hoteft and had a drink. He said on ■--the way, Mr. Cogan,.l'm right at last. I think I said then to him, What's up ? He said he had' got a draft of £355, which he had been long wishing for, on the bank at St. Bathans. He told me he could not «et t it cashed there, as Mr. Campbell told hiitrit .would have to go to Town. He said he had told Mr. Campbell he wanted to come to Naseby, and wanted to get it cashed there. He said he wanted the money on the bank of New Zealand. As he was ' working with Mr. M'lntosh's brother on the head race, he thought he would have less bother in getting it, as ho ' was not very well known in Naseby. He said to me he was going to stop a week or two. He said he had got no money, but expected it by Monday's mail, or the following Tuesday. He was not acquainted, in the town at all. I told him be could hare stopped wilh me, as far as that went, %s I don t like to see anyone hard up. I had .already told him that I kept no boarders. I remember seeing the accused in tho dining-room of my hotel a little after dark on the 21st July last. He had a bottle of Champagne in his Ijbttd. He said he was shouting a bottle tJlithe strength of getting his draft up. He said Mr. told him he could not get the money for two days, although it had come up. On the night oi the 23rd of July he was sitting at my dining-rpom. He asked mo for two or three drinks. I served him with two drinks. Ho asked me to give him his bill, or tell him the amount, as ho was going to pay' me that night, or in the morning, as he had received a portion of his money. I then left the room for the purpose of finding out his bill, and returned in five <?r scv.en minutes—perhaps ten minuses. The accused was gone in' themeah'time.' I could not see hinJ. He returned to the house again between eleven and twelve that night, and went to bed. I went in the bedroom %o him - shortly after, and asked him if/he was going to settle—telling him the amount. I think I told him it was £9, not including his tucker. He said as he had given! his money to another party to keep for him till*the morning, he could not pay me: .till morning. I asked him if he could; give mo a cheque for the amount. He said, Yes! most decidedly. I then had filled up a cheque for him on the Bank of New South Wales, Naseby, for £ll 165., and "'gave it to him. The amount in-i , eluded the board. He told me his money . "was in the Bank of New Zealand, while tho cheque was on the Bank of-New South Wales—it might not be cashed. I. . then went and got a cheque filled up on! the Bank of New Zealand, Naseby,. fori £ll 10s. I presented it to the accused,; who signed it. The cheque shewn to me, marked A, and numbered 79119, dated July 23rd, 1874, made payable at Naseby j in favor of John Cogan, £ll 10s., is the ~ cheque that the accused signed. It is on the Bank of New Zealand. The next morning when I got up I discovered that the accused had left the house, and did not see him again until at the Court today. I took the cheque to the Bank of New Zealand the/morning he left—l think to Mr. Forbefe, the clerk—and presented it for payment. He told me there was no funds, and returned the account to me, marked " no account." I hare not been paid the amount of the cheque since. Out of>y account for £lllos., I think 7s. was cash lent; the remainder I was for board and refreshments. I would not hare supplied the accused with, the money and the goods but for his representations as to the draft; although I might have given him a week or two's board, as to any man hard up. As to draft, I at first thought he was larking, but afterwards I believed him. I think it wasabout a week after this I gare.information to the police on enquiry. ' ! In answer to the accused: You did tell me in the bar jou wanted to stay a day or two' in my house. You did not tell me you had a draft on the Union Bank of \' Australasia for £366 10s. By the Court: It was about four or fire days after he spoke to me about the draft that I believed it. The reason was because I asked Mr. M'lntoshif he knew anything about it, and he said he thought "• it was right, from what had been said to him. I lent him 4s. 6d. on the 13th, and 2s. 6d. on the 16th. I beliered jtttthe draft about the 13th or 16th. One the amounts, £2 10s., was for board, jmand_ the balance refreshments, run up a fortnight. I would not say exactly, but perhaps £2 or £3 of that sum were owing to me before I beliered accused's statement about the draft. , William Grant Forbes, ledger-keeper at the Bank of New Zealand, at Naseby,being called and sworn, said : I the last witness, John Cogan. I recollect him coming to the bank on the 24fch of July,during the forenoon, and handing me the cheque, now produced, marked A, for payment. I answered the cheque, "no account," and handed it back to John Cogan. I know the accused. He had not an account at that time in the bank of New Zealand, nor since. Cross-examined by accused : Mr. Forbes, do you remember that the amount of the drfaft which I left at St. Bathans, and which I told you was to be sent to my credit, was £360 odd P Witness: I do think the amount of the draft you told me was to be sent to Town was £360 odd, to be placeclat your credit at the Bank of New Zealand, Naseby'. By the Court: As far as I "can recollect, it was some time between' the 10th and 15th of July that accused spoke to me about the draft at St. Bathans. The Sub-Inspector stated that that concluded the case. The Court, after cautioning the accused, asked him whether he wished to say anything in his own behalf. • The accused had nothing to say. The Magistrate said that, after reading he evidence, he was of opinion that the r *rer charge had.not been made out-^riot y rate sufficiently clear to justify him ■rmritling the accused; at the same iihe Court would be justified .in ad- .' the police that, there was very clear oris of a minor offence. He was th'ftt, from tie evidence before

him, the'ease, if sent for trial, would be thrown out. The accused would be discharged.

On the following day accused was again charged by the Police for imposing upon Cogan. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one month with hard labor in Naseby gaol.

Tuesday, Aug. 25. Police, v. William Arthur Haselup.— Imposing upon Sarah Turner, of Blackstone Hill, by false representations. On the information being read, the accused stated that he had no cause to show why he should not be convicted, that he would plead guilty, but that the offence had been exaggerated. Sarah Turner was then examined, and stated that the accused came to her house on the 9th July, and left on the 10Lh 'of that,month; that, before leaving the house, he had said that he had a draft from home, and sent it to Dunedin, and that he was going to Naseby to draw the cash. He went across the road to obtain a seat on the coach. I believe he could not get a seat inside, and was obliged to travel outside. It was raining at the time, and I lent him an oilskin coat, which he promised to return the following Saturday. I also, at his request, lent him a £1 note. He then said that he would come back on the following Saturday or Sunday, repay the £l, and an old account of £6 for stores. I have not received the coat back yet, nor has he paid me the £1 or store account. I! ad he not represented to me about the draft I should neither have lent him the £1 nor the coat.

Cross-examined by the accused : You told Mr. Turner and myself on the night that you came to our house that you were going to Naseby for money. You did not say that you might have to go to Dunedin for it. You promised to return the coat on. the following Saturday, and you said that you would repay the £1 when you returned.

Examined by the Court: The accused had been a customer of ours for about twelve months. He had paid us on account several times. He had always acted honestly with us, and never at any time owed us p.ore than £6. We had always trusted the accused, but would not have lent him the £l nor the coat had it not been for his statement about the money, because he had been out of employment off the race works for about a month, and had deceived us in regard to a,.statement that he had work at St. Bathans!

The Magistrate then addressed the accused as follows:—This is not such a barefaced case as the one for which you are now undergoing imprisonment. I am sorry I cannot believe your statement that you had expectations of money coming to you, for, I am confident, that you would hare girensome evidence of your inuocence if you had received letters or communications of any kind respecting a draft. You plead guilty, and that, shall be taken into consideration in your favor. It appears also that you bare been dealing honestly with .the Turners for a year past, and were indebted to them for stores on the occasion of your deceiring them. All that could be possibly thought of in your favor has been, and a lenient sen-' tenco will be,passed in the hope that the punishment' will be sufficient to check you in a course so unmanly and degrading. You are sentenced to 21 days' imprisonment, with hard labor, in Naseby gaol s The term to be cumulative upon your" former sentence.