MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 54, 1 February 1938, Page 12

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

MISCELLANEOUS CASES. Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., presided at a sitting of the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. S. G. Nortliey pleaded guilty to having a dog which had attacked a man, “thereby endangering his limbs.” Senior-Sergeant Mclntyre said the dog had attacked a man on a bicycle. Mr Northey said there were no fences on either side of his house, and no complaints had been made by the neighbours. Mr R. Emmett, dog tax collector, said the dog was more playful than vicious. Defendant w r as fined £2 and told to keep the dog under better control. A month was allowed for payment. J. H. Purves pleaded guilty to being found in the Hokowhitu swimming baths without lawful excuse, and guilty also to a charge of not having a tail-light on a car he was driving at night. Senior-Sergeant Mclntyre said defendant had used the baths when they were closed. Damage had been done to flowers of late by persons scrambling over the fence and the school committee wished to stop unauthorised use of the baths. On the first charge defendant was ordered to pay 13s costs only and on the second wa§ fined 10s, with 10s costs. M. Oliver, of Palmerston North, pleaded guilty, through her solicitor (Mr T. M. N. Rodgers), to an information of operating an incorrect weighing machine. Mr G. Brown, for the Department of Labour, said negligence liad been shown in that a scale on a travelling butcher’s shop had registered short weight. Mr Rodgers said defendant had nothing to do with the actual conduct of the business. The scales had been mistakenly used; they had previously been cast aside. Defendant was fined £2 and ordered to pay tlie costs, 10s. R. A. Alve was charged with not having a warrant of fitness for a motor truck. Mr J. W. Coddington, Main Highways Board inspector, gave evidence, and defendant was fined £1 and costs 12s. A. J. Weeks was fined £l, with 12s costs, for operating a goods service oil the Longburn-Rongotea Highway without a license. T. L. Craigie was charged with not giving way to pedestrian traffic on an authorised pedestrian crossing. Constable J. A. Hall gave evidence that he was using the pedestrian crossing at 10.50 on a Saturday night. Rain was falling and a car driven by defendant passed so close that witness had to pull back a cycle lie was wheeling. Constable Waugh read a statement made by defendant. Defendant was fined 10s and ordered to pay costs, 10s. He said he did not sec the pedestrian, and had steadied the car when approaching the intersection. , ... C. H. Larsen was fined _ £5, with costs 10s, for being £5 12s in default on his unemployment levy. Mr Cozens, for the Labour Department, explained that defendant had been fined on similar charges in May, 1931, and February, 1935. In imposing the fine the Magistrate commented that defendant had been convicted twice before. B. C. WaldegraVc was called on a similar information and fined £5, with 10s costs. Mr Cozens said defendant had received sums from an estate. In neither case did the defendant appear. William Robert Robertson pleaded not guilty (through Mr T. F. Helling) to a charge that on June 13, 1936, lie stole two tubs valued at £2, the property of the City Council. Evidence was given by Robert Russell, as to the removal of the tubs from a house damaged by fire; P- Black (city curator) as to the value and ownership of the tubs; and by Detective O. Power, who said accused had told him he had taken the tubs thinking they were abandoned. Mr Helling contended that the charge had not been laid within the statutory time limit. Accused admitted in the witness box that he took the tubs. The Magistrate said there was some doubt as to the date, and dismissed the charge. He said accused had no right to go on to a property and take any articles after a James Arthur Remind was fined £2 and costs for using indecent language in Main Street. Defendant pleaded not guiltv and said ho had remonstrated with a taxi-driver for not keeping an appointment. William Jackson pleaded not guilty to an information of dangerous driving Mr J. A. Grant appeared for defendant. Mr J. W. Coddington, Main Highways Board inspector, said he had seen defendant “cut in’ on traffic. The case was adjourned to allow further evidence to be called, the Magistrate saying there was a doubt to be cleared up. Failure to give wav to traffic approaching from the right at the corner of Campbell and Cuba ,Streets resulted in F. Bignall being fined £2. with 16s costs.

Charged with not possessing a warrant of fitness for a motor-vehicle he was driving. J. S. T. Chisholm was fined £l, with 10s costs. G. H. Larsen. of Ashhurst. the owner of the vehicle, was fined £l, with 13s costs, on a charge of aiding and abetting the Firmer defendant. Senior-Sergeant Mclntvre stated that the vehicle a lorry had run off the road near W hakarongo, and when inquiries were made into the cause, it was discovered that the lorry had not a warrant of litn6J\ M. Findlav was fined £l, with 10s costs, for not having a warrant qr fitness, and £2 10s for using an unregistered motor-vehicle. It was stated that defendant had obtained the vehicle from a garage for a trial as a prospective purchaser, but it was no registered. A penalty of £2 with ]os costs, was mrnosed on K. n. Crozier for permitting the use of the unregistered vehicle. A fine of £2, with 12s costs was imposed on Ray Hayward on a charge of committing an offence in Regent Arcade. CHARGE OF THEFT. Truman Wiltshire, a labourer and clerk, aged 33, was charged with the theft, • at Marton, of a separator valued at £6. DetectiveSergeant Meiklejolm stated that the separator- had disappeared from a shed broken into during the absence of tlie owner. Accused had called on a machinery exchange and two second-hand dealers trying to sell the separator, and did so tar 35s eventually, under an assumed name and address. Accused, who liad nineteen convictions, bad been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on January M. Mr A. M. Ongley. who appeared tor accused, stated that the latter liad been committed to the Sunrenm Court for sentence on three other charges. Accused was sentenced to one month s imprisonment ,to he concurrent with the term he is at present serving. UNUSUAL CHARGES. No appearance was made by Norman Kenneth Sligo when lie was charged with being found on licensed premises after hours on December 13, with failure to give liis name and address as required under the Licensing Act, and with being unlawfully oil the Marton racecourse during a race meeting on January 3. Inspector J. Cummings stated that while a constable was on duty outside

an hotel on December 13, he saw defendant get out of a car go inside and come out with a bottle of beer in each hand. Asked for his name and address, defendant refused to give it, to disclose his identity, or who the owner of the car was. He agreed to drive to the police station, the constable haying his cycle, and started in that direction, but it was alleged that defendant was told by a woman companion to speed up and get away. Subsequently, nowover, the same constable found defendant on the Marten racecourse and interviewed him. “This man has been convicted no less than ton times,” added Inspector Cummings, who said that among charges previously brought against defendant had been possession of dangerous drugs, indecent assault, and false pretences. He had come out of prison in May of 1936. Defendant was fined £2, with 10s costs on each of the first two charges, and £5, with 10s costs, on the third charge. Charged that, being the owner of a motor vehicle, and being informed by a constable that ail offence had allegedly been committed against the Licensing Act, she failed to give all possible information which would lead to the identification of the driver, and also with wilfully obstructing • the .constable in the execution of his duty,, a woman defendant was fined £2 with 13s costs on the first charge, the second one being withdrawn by Inspector Cummings, but he said he would proceed in those cases in future if names were not disclosed to the police-