TROUBLE OVER A PERMIT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3461, 15 April 1920, Page 7

TROUBLE OVER A PERMIT.

DOCUMENT NOT RETURNED.

UNUSU..«\L PROSECUTION.

A prosecution possessing interest~ ing features wa‘s‘ :brought before Mr P. L. 1-lollings, S.M., at the Wellington Police Court. when the nuthol-itiesx establ'isl_led a precedent: by proceeding against John L .McPhee for failing to 1-etux-1i to the Internal Affairs De‘ partment a permit authorising him to leave New Zealand. A plea of not guilty was entered,

.121 outlining; the case, Sub-Ins_pector E‘nlersoll‘ said t‘n:.\.t., on November .17 last, the accused obtained :1 permit to proced to Canada. by the steamship‘ Makura, which due to leave ‘ Auckland for \-’al'l(:ouver on the fol-i lowing day. I-lowever, he had a brother. Gilbert J. Mc.'Phee_. :1 mm-neat man with a family, und as the wife of I the latter thought it possible that he? intended to desert her she took steps 1 to prevent him from obtaining at P 61“; mit. Unfortunately, these were of no 1 avail, for on November 22, Gilbert J'.i McPhee~— travelling under the name* of "a'ccused——was a passenger by the I\/lakura, the departure of which had “been postponed.‘ As the two brothers‘ had resided together on the night oi‘ November 17, it was. believed that the defendaiit was a party to the detception. Vtfhen the latter was first initerrogated about the matter, he stated jthat he had lost his permit, but later asserted that he had it in his ‘bag on lthe night his brother lived with him, and that if the latter had obtained possession of it, it was without his knowledge. Giving evidence, the accused said he did not know that he was required to return the permit, and ‘as the subinspector proceeded to cross-examine him, he surprised the Court by stating -that he had the document, which he had found in his bagChallenged to show it, McPhee was as good as his word, and produced it, but this did not get, him out of trouble because the prosecuting officer pointed out that the regulations required that it‘ a permit were not used within one month from the date on which‘ it was to take effect, it should be returned to the Department of Internal Affairs. . The magistrate fined the accused '£s and costs. 1