“EQUALS SYDNEY!”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 48, 19 May 1927, Page 13

“EQUALS SYDNEY!”

DANCER “DOWNED” FRACAS AT MAUKU FUNCTION ASSAULTERS HEAVILY FINED (Special to THE SUN.) PUKEKOHE, To-day. Waving a baton frantically as he stood on a bench in the Mauku Hall, one of the dancers tried to scare off four young “pushers.” They closed in and the defender went down with a bleeding mouth. This happening at a dance at Mauku made Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., remark at the Pukekohe Court yesterday: “The affair is a disgrace to the district, and equals a Sydney or Melbourne fracas.” He convicted “Goff” Howard, Charles Edward Learning, and Leslie Needham of assaulting Richard William Horton. The trio together with Herbert Robertson, all Patumahoe youths, were convicted and discharged on charges of using threatening behaviour on the same occasion. Horton stated that he was accosted by Needham who demanded him to accompany him outside the hall, but he refused. The gang made a rush at him in the porch of the hall, and he held them at bay by threatening to strike them with a stick which he produced. He was then rushed and deprived of the “waddie.” Howard struck him in the face, breaking several teeth. Learning said that he had had a* previous altercation with Horton, and he was desirous of fighting him. LIKENED TO DOGS Summing up, the Magistrate said that some men could be likened to dogs, meaning that they attacked a fellow being when downed. The affair was a disgrace to the young men concerned and to the district. Howard was convicted and fined £lO, half of which was ordered to be paid to Horton, and • Learning and Needham were fined £2. Learning was also charged with assaulting Horton on April 28. Learning, Robinson and David Given were jointly charged with behaving in a riotous, insulting and threatening manner on the Patumahoe-Drury Road on this occasion. The trouble started through Learning taking exception to Horton dancing several times with a certain girl at a dance at Patumahoe on the night of April 27. Learning spoke to Horton in the hall on the matter, and Horton replied that he would please himself. When Horton went to get his motorcycle at 2.30 a.m. he found the tyres were down. The three men stopped him on the road and Learning issued a challenge to fight. The magistrate said that the case did not appear to be very serious, the charges against Learning and Robinson would be dismissed as trifling on payment of costs, £1 and 14s respectively. There was no evidence to support the charge against Given, which must fail.