MISCHIEVOUS YOUTHS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 665, 17 May 1929, Page 11

MISCHIEVOUS YOUTHS

LITTERED STATION FLOOR FINES INFLICTED What would be appear to be a comj mendable observance of the "Eat I More Fruit” movement resulted in i three young men being charged at j the Police Court this morning with ! behaving in a disorderly manner, i Walter F. Christy, Cyril Simmons i and Bryan C. McCarthy no doubt feel | surprised at the lack of sympathy acj corded them by railway and police 1 authorities in their experiments with the fruit diet. In addition to the charge mentioned, Bryan C. McCarthy was also charged with committing wilful mischief. Mr. Bryce Hart appeared for Christy and pleaded not guilty. McCarthy pleaded not guilty by letter and SubInspector McCarthy explained that Simmons, the third defendant, had gone away on a ship. Glen Eden railway sation was the scene of the occurrence that had led to the laying of the information, according to the sub-inspector. Four young men had gone out to Glen Eden to apply for a position advertised in a newspaper. They were unsuccessful and, while waiting for a train, bought some plums and ate them. “One of the offenders disposed of prodigious quantities and threw the skins and stones all over the waiting-room floor.” continued the sub-inspector. “When the porter came along the place was in a terrible mess and the lock of the door leading into the ticket room was broken as if somebody had thrown themselves against the wood. . Christy was the only man who gave his right name to the police.” Joseph Pace, a porter at the station, recalled the annoyance with which he had seen four young men skylarking ; about the station he had just cleaned, and throwing fruit stones about, to the danger of the public. “I spoke to them, and McCarthy refused to give his name, and abused me,” continued witness. “The damage done to the lock on the ticket room door was Ss.” Put in the box by Mr. Hart, Christy said that he was a Takapuna boy, and a concrete blockmaker. Until the day when he had met them on the railway platform after his unsuccessful application for the position at Glen Eden, he had never seen the other defend-1 ants. Mr. Hart: Apart from the plums, the visit to Glen Eden was fruitless. Christy maintained that he had thrown no skins or stones on the floor, but had put them behind a shed. The tali men who was mainly responsible for the trouble had got off the train at a side station, evidently guessing that the police would be meeting it looking for the young men spoken to by the porter. The Sub-Inspector: We have not yet located that fourth man—McGuire. The charge against Christy was dismissed. McCarthy was fined £1 on the mischief charge, and ordered to make good the damage to the lock. Simmons was lined 10s, with costs 16s.