MERCER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 285, 19 June 1917, Page 1

MERCER.

COURT (Before Mr F. V. Frazer, S.M.) FAILING TO REGISTER

A man, named Alfred Hollinshead, was charged under the Military Service Act, 1916, with failing to register in the Reserve. Constable Horan stated that the defendant had arrived in New Zealand in the early part of 1916, and had taken the name of Parton. He was managing: a farm at Managatawhiri for a Mrs Parton, with whom he was living. Defendant's wife in England had recently communicated with the Auckland police with a view to having her husband's whereabouts traced, and the police enquiries had shown that he had not registered und.w the Act, either in the name of Hollinshead or in that of Parton. The defendant, in reply to the Magistrate, said that he had served in the South African war, and thought that as he was a farmer he was exempt from service. He did not know of the requirements of the law of New Zealand and did not have many opportunities of meeting other men as he spent all his time on the farm. He produced a letter from England to prove that he had recently sent money to his family. The Magistrate said that defendant was undeubtedly liable, but that his object in coming to New Zealand was more to evade his wife than to shirk his military responsibilities. He had not much sympathy with him, but would not order him to be imprisoned. Defendant would be fined £5, with 17s'6d costs. CIVIL JURISDICTION

Judgment for the respective plaintiffs by default was given in the following cases: J. F. Shepherd, manager Te Kauwhata State farm, vJ. Corley, Hobson street, Auckland, 7s with 5a costs; S. Carter and Son v W. Roycroft, Maramarua, £1 with 5s costs; H. S. Valentine vG. Hannan, Matamata, £4 3s 4d, with £1 3s costs; same v Koti, Pokeno, £7 10s 7d, with £1 costs. An order on a judgment summons was made in the case of H, S. Valentine v Meri Pinga, Mercer, the defendant, who did not appear, being ordered to pay £lO 10s within a week, in default ten days' imprisonment in Auckland prison. In the defended case H. S. Valentine v Tuke Mata, of Mercer, in which £35 Is 6d was claimed, the defendant contended that a large proportion of the account was in respect of goods supplied to other natives without his authority. After hearing the evidence, the Magistrate said that he was satisfied as to the genuineness of the claim as a whole, with the exception of £2 3s 7d, which owing to the absence of one of the plaintiff's witnesses with the Expeditionary Force, could not be proved to be owing by the defendant. Judgment was given for £32 17s lid, with £2 5s coses