FROM BAR TO BAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 853, 23 December 1929, Page 11

FROM BAR TO BAR

HOW TWO WOMEN SPENT THEIR TIME THREE MONTHS’ EACH They went from bar to bar, stopping to speak to strange men in the street, according to Constable Christiansen, who gave evidence against two women on a charge of vagrancy, at the Police Court this morning. jDOTH women were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. Margaret Rutherford,, a domestic, aged 44, and May Thwaites, a middleaged woman, were both charged with drunkenness and being idle and disorderly, in that they consorted with persons of reputed bad character. They admitted being drunk, but pleaded not guilty on the second charges.

Constable Christiansen said that Rutherford was a companion of two women who had been gaoled on Saturday. Witness had been watching her in the course of special duty on which he was engaged. She went from bar to bar, and accosted strange men in the street. Constable Wilson gave similar evidence. Accused said her husband, who was away on a ship, supported her. H*e sent her £6 a month. Learning that Rutherford’s list ran into two pages and that she had 53 previous convictions, Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., convicted her and imposed the term of imprisonment. HOLIDAY QUESTION SETTLED “She said that she had come into town for the Christmas holidays,” said Constable Stevenson, of Thwaites. “That’s all right, then,” commented the magistrate. “She’ll spend them in Auckland. Constable Christiansen said the same of accused as he had done of Rutherford, adding that he thought Thwaites was worse. “I earn my own living. I never accosted men,” declared accused. “I don’t want you swearing my life away like you did once before. It is 11 years since I have been in this court.” The Magistrate: You were here last week. Accused: Oh, that . The sub-inspector said the woman had twice previously been convicted for a similar offence. A similar term of imprisonment was imposed.