ENTERTAINING A STRANGER. (From the Auckland Herald.)

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 55, 21 June 1884, Page 7

ENTERTAINING A STR AN GER. (From the Auckland Herald.)

u We nope our readers will peruse the evidence in iht» » l«ml»ipsf down' eii.se, heard in the Police Court Tuesday last, nn i then express their opinions to their friends privately, on the conduct of t ie Resident Magistrate, who dism's-ed tiie case on the most paltry of tecuniea! grounds, because a Gazette, which lay on the table before him, had not formally ' been put in. Here was a man charged with conduct deserving severe punishment, and he escapes a judgment on the merits or demerits of his offence, because a certain Gazette was not opened at the right place, and put before the Resident Magistrate's nose. The evidence for the prosecution showed tlie following facts : — A man named Franks arrived h-om Wanganui, and getting on the spree, was driven by a cabman, Clarke, to the Swan Hotel Ha was then drunk, but had two £5 notes in his possession, one of which he retained, and the otiiei he changed to pay the cabman. He remained in the hotel for about twelve days. In the interim, he displayed a deposit receipt for £250, which Adams got him to endow, and p.issed it to his own banking account. The man was kept drunk and calming during the interval, and until a doctor was culled, who btoppeJ his grog, and th >n

he asked ft settlement. . To his astonis.iment, he foumi «'that his bill amounted to £147 10s, whi^ tho landlord made up to £150 by $<nng him the balance in cash. He obi^ted to nn item of £68 for ' sundries,' ty&i did not press it, and was satisfied jto'take his £100, the balance of his ,u«oney, and have doiv with the matter. He wn9 offered £50,; tnat was relusei) ; lie sulmnquently g % ofc £00, and niter thai, under furtner pro&sur«, gob £20, more, bntwas refused the other £•20 uiil'ess he #uve Adams n receipt in full. The disclosures in the evidence are most cxtraor iiuury. The case, liowevor, Foil through, because the police had not proved that Adams was an innlieeper, and tnat the Licensing Act was in force in this district ! Superintendent Thomson ha* reserved the right of renewing the prosecution in another form, and it is to be hoped this matter will not l>e allowed to drop. If the allegations as given in the evidence for the prosecution are sustained, the case is one which is a scandal to the city.