Around and About The Courts

NZ Truth, Issue 1238, 22 August 1929, Page 2

Around and About The Courts

AN elderly man came into the city, from the country, with a bank roll and a thirst and promptly set about^to get rid of each. He was arrested on a charge of drunkenness, and the following day appeared m the Christchurch Magistrate's Court and was fined 10/- by Mr. H. A. Young, S.M. He asked that he might be allowed time m which to pay the fine, as he. had wages due to him . which he wanted to collect. He . was told that the police would collect the, money for him. , As he> was leaving the box he turned to the. Magistrate and Baldr "Your Worship, . could I have a detective to see if he can find my ,16st money? 1 landed m town yesterday afternoon with £33 m my pocket." "The police will help you to find it," said Mr. Young. ' ; % . • * "'.- .•' W7.HEN Thomas King is "three sheets " m the wind" <he is not too" particular about observing to a letter" the Marquis of Queensbury's rules. The blow he gave Constable Fleming below belt was a beauty. The constable was arresting King on a charge of stealing two pairs of boots from the front of Hannah's shop m Cuba Street,. Wellington; The Magistrate viewed the assault on the constable as serious and inflicted a sentence of three months' Imprisonment.

"THE case arose out of the complainant and defendant drinking together. They were, as a matter of fact, accustomed to 'smacking it up' together." So said Mr. F. J. Smith, counsel for a young man named Reginald Alves, who was charged m the Temuka court with : the theft of a wallet containing £7 m money, and an overcoat valued at £3. . ; _. ".,,;*,." The worst feature of the case 'lay In the fact that! it was a work-mate and friend whom Alves robbed. Sergeant Dwan stated that the ,two men were working on Sandon Estate, Sheffield. McDonald, the man robbed, had left the money m a wallet, and the day Alves left the farm .the money and the/overcoat disappeared. McDonald had been able to identify a £,5 note as his, as it had a strip off one end. He found that Alves had cashed this at an hotel. A fine of £ 3 was imposed and an order was, also made ordering restitution of the money and property stolen. * ' .* '•* WILLIAM ALEXANDER ROBERTSON, of Duriedin, seems to have developed an irresistible penchant for unlawfully driving about the city m other people's motor-cars. At the city police court before Mr. H. W. Bundle, S.M., Robertson pleaded guilty to his third offence of unlawfully converting to his own use a petrol buggy belonging to Mr. W. P. Fleming. ..... After a patient vigilance of several hours the unhappy owner spotted his property flying along

past the Stock Exchange shortly after midnight. Hopping into a taxi, Ke gave chase and caught up with his quarry near the Gridiron Hotel. But Robertson did not like parting up with his newly-acquired means of transport, and gave fight— he had two cobbers to help him! He later showed fight to a constable. Robertson was sentenced to two months' gaol for taking the car, and one month for assaulting the constable, the terms to be concurrent. # ■#■•"•.* TN passing sentence of not more than 1 three years' detention m. a Borstal institute on Samuel Fabian Wills, the young bank clerk, who succeeded temporarily m defrauding the Bank of New South Wales of £4700, Mr. Justice Herdman said at the Auckland Supreme Court that it would only encourage others to think they had nothing to fear if he admitted Wills to probation. Defending counsel, Mr. A. H. Johnstone, made a strong plea for probation on the grounds that the act was unpremeditated and that Wills had brought disgrace on his family and wrecked his own career. His . Honor stated that he would not be doing his duty if he granted^ probation, as Wills had pleaded guilty to obtaining the money , by forgery. It was one of the saddest cases he had had to deal with for prisoner, had been reared in' comfort', and; had every advantage possible and there was little excuse, if any, for his act. -# # * / THE evidence went to show, said Mr. A Justice Herdman, m the Auckland Supreme - Court, • that the offence against his daughter of'; which Alfred Richard Dickman was found guilty, was not an isolated one. - The immoral practice had extended over a period of twelve months.' Dickman was utterly depraved, said his Honor, and the offence must shock the sensibilities \ of every decent mem* >r of the community. i .-...''■ . ■ ■ ■ i Sentence of seven year* hard labor [was passed on Pickm.au,

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.-. "^HAT appeals to me m your case," said Mr. Justice Herdman to Harry Davis, who came up for sentence at the Auckland Supreme Court on a serious charge, "Is that as soon as you discovered her trouble, you wrote and offered to marry the girl. "The case is quite different from the usual run of such offences, for the girl appears to me to be utterly abandoned and to be a menace to the young men of the community. "She has been associated with another man who was sentenced at these same sessions and has associated with yet a third man who appeared before the court some time back." Allowing twelve months for Davis to pay £18/1/-, the costs of the prosecution, his Honor placed him on probation for two years, saying that he had acted as an honorable man should do. '# # * POMMITTAL. to a Borstal institute for not more than two years was the punishment meted out to Albert Ernest Austin m the Auckland Supreme Court when he was found guilty of a serious offence m respect of a girl of 15. If the girl . had been . four months older, said Mr. Noble, who appeared for Austin, he would not have been charged. His Honor, Mr. Justice Herdman, said that Austin only recently landed m New Zealand as a stowaway and had made a bad beginning. Although he could not understand why the girl accompanied him, the evidence against Austin was clear and conclusive and rendered probation quite out of the question. • • • A MIDDLE-AGED, married woman, ** Nellie Spierling, was charged before Mr. E. Page, S.M., m the Wellington Magistrate's Cburt with obtaining from one Charles Harris the sum of £60 with intent to defraud by fraudulently representing that she was the owner of certain furniture. Mrs. Spierling was brought before the court on summons/the prosecution being a private one. . It was alleged that the defendant had borrowed the £60 from Harris on the seourity of her furniture and it was further alleged that at the time of that transaction there was already a bill-of-sale over the same. After hearing the evidence, Mr. Page said that it had not been proved to his satisfaction that a previous security was still m force and he must therefore dismiss the Information against Mrs. Spierling. '