Around and About The Courts

NZ Truth, Issue 1237, 15 August 1929, Page 5

Around and About The Courts

1 v?.,iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniHiiiHiinHHiiiiiiiiiiiHiHi WHEN a middle-aged bootmaker,] Clarence Bredin Smith, journeyed up Adelaide Road m his motor-car one evening, he collided with a boy riding a bicycle. Smith drove on some distance and then returned to the scene of the' accident to see what harm had been done. It was then noticed that he/ was under the influence of liquor, and he •was placed under, arrest. Smith subsequently* appeared m the Wellington Magistrate's Court charged with being intoxicated while m charge of a motor-car. He was defended by Mr. W. E. , Leicester, who entered a plea of guiltyjon behalf of his client. ■ Mr.' Leicester' stated that although his client: had driven a -car for the past 19 years' he had never previously been before the court on; any charge whatever, and as Smithy has an invalid wife, he asked that l.the defendant's license be not cancelled. • Mr. Page, the presiding Magistrate, said that.2ie.did not., feel disposed to depart '■from his/usual' practice m such cases and , fined Smith £ 20, cancelling his' license for a period of twelve months. • •■■-. .. ■'. : •. THAT he stole from his -.employers for ■"*■... the purpose of paying a deposit otii a' motor-car; with; which he hoped to secure increased orders, was the reason given by John Francis Halcombe, a young ; salesman, when charged m the Wellington Magistrate's Court with failing to account to Forestry Development Limited for the sum of £15. There were also three charges, of issuing valueless cheques brought against the accused. - I The chief- detective stated that at the .time of the:, offences the accused had 'been drinking heavily. .-• Mr. E. Page, S.M., pointed out that Halcombe was not , a first offender, having been convicted, of false pretences m 1926. A term of -six months' imprisonment was imposed. ' " : * ' * , '...*. UNLIKE most women who stoop to the practice of obtaining goods under false pretences, Selina May Calder did not go for the finery so dear to > a- woman's heart, but instead obtained articles that were necessary. ; Having just, attained the age of 21, arid being married, Calder visited the Drapers' Supply' Association, m George Street, Dunedin, >and ordered goods to the value of £2/4/3, representing that they were for a customer of the firm, Mrs. B. Smart; According^ to Chief -detective Cameron, when Calder appeared before Mr. ■:■■, J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., in.the Dunedin Police Court, the goods were all necessities and had been returned. They had been used, however, and could: not be put back m stock, and Calder .had offered to pay for them 'within a fortnight. With the remark that this should be a lesson to her not to be dishonest, the Magistrate convicted and, ordered Calder to come up for sentence" within si^mbntfts if called, upon* "

A FEW years! of -happiness, and then ■I; the other nian's appearance put r the seal on the ; domestic life .of John Edward Philp. His petition for divorce against Alice Philp . to' granted . by Mr;- Justice ■ Kennedy m the. Dunedin Supreme jCpurt.' ' ."•:/'• v Marrfed m 1914, .FJhilp stated that a few years : sifter ;- marriage his ■ wife ; w|.tfe.ahotheK.rnan, M ' 'and .once;' : yvent-!:aw i ay/-Wlth : "-three of "the children*; ; : '-: . Mrs. Philp returned to her husband again and brought the v children back, but the" rift m the .lute 'of domestic relations widened, and husband and wife separated; m 1926. . ■ :'':■- ■ * .-' •'■•.:^' ; .»- '-.. ■'.. ■'• ! . ' ' DOBERT. McGA;BB^ ( could not j. have ** chosen a wprse -'place to'demonstrate his inabilityyt'o'arive a car when the' worse for liquor,. 1 than m front of the police station m .Severn- Street, Oumaru. '■■■;■ •-■ After making Constable Tretheway step on his cycle pedals to get out of the way of the oncoming car, McCabe piled his car into a motor-lorry m ah almost head-on ' collision. Perhaps it was a sense of consideration on his part as it was only a step to the cooler. A plea of guilty before Mr. Bundle, S.M.,- was met with the cancellation of McCabe's license and prohibition from driving for three years. The Magistrate also intimated' that McCabe had better take out a prohibition order against himself. ■'# * * TN a recent collision case heard m the Wellington .Magistrate's Court, toy motor cars were used to demonstrate events leading up to the accident. Counsel for the defendant m making a demonstration sent the miniature "Lizzie" on a tour along the- clerk's bench. For some reason known only to itself, the ca^^ursued a very erratic course. Vj/^ -■>&, sir," immediately exclaim**'*'^ counsel for the x plaintiff, "that tlie- demonstration clearly shows that the defendant was drunk at the time of the collision." .•# ■ • "THE offence of robbing an old age *■ pensioner, was described by Mr. Justice Kennedy; m ; the Dunedin Supreme Court as a mean and despicable theft, and Raymond Theodore Padman. was the young man who perpetrated the deed. ' Padman, who is at present serving a term, of two years' detention m a Borstali appeared for sentence for breaking, entering and theft, and the Judge imposed two yeara' detention m the Borstal, the terms to be , concurrent.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiinniiiniiiiiiiniuiiiHiiiiiniiiiiniiMuuLTHEODOßE MELVILLE JENNENS, A the Wellington land agent, whose license was recently cancelled by Mr; E. Page, S.M., for a breach of the law controlling the operations of land agents, was recently arrested arid charged with converting the sum of £50 received m his capacity of land agent. He pleaded not guilty and was committed to the 'Supreme Court, for trial, the case being disposed of at the recent short session of the court. -After an hour's retirement „ the jury found the accused guilty, and he was remanded for sentence. When he later appeared before Mr. Justice MacGregor, his Honor said it was not a case for probation, and the prisoner would be sentenced to three months' imprisonment. • . * * "THE bottle was a big one, square" on 1 one side,' with -," but here a witness m an alleged sly grog case at Oamaru recently, broke down m an endeavor to describe the shape of an Imperial quart whisky bottle. The police came to the rescue with the suggestion that perhaps it would be better described as "an Oamaru bottle, which was frequently seen m doorways, especially after dances." . , »■•'■'* # W7HEN the police called at the hut " occupied by. George Henry William Pachnatz, they found the man living m a dirty state and weak from hunger. ' He told them ykat he had been put of work for three months and that he had no money. A week later he was brought before the Christchurch Magis : trate's Court, to answer a charge of being idle and disorderly. Mr. H. P. Lawry, S.M., thought that the best thing for him would be a term of imprisonment, and sentenced him to Paparua for a month. Sub-inspector P. J. O'Hara said that the man had been remanded for a week so that the police could clean him up. ] * * # FOR the next 18 months Edward Gillespie will undergo reformative detention for six offences involving forgery and • uttering. When he came before Mr. Justice Kennedy, m the Dunedin Supreme Court, for sentence, the youth was not represented and had, nothing to say for himself. . His Honor remarked that the offences were of the kind that struck at the security of the small tradesman and others who could ill afford to lose money. Gillespie, he said, had exercised ingenuity and a. definite criminal purpose m his work, and he had also had previous convictions. T*he only punishment for him was prison.