STRANGE OCCURRENCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 91, 28 February 1885, Page 3

STRANGE OCCURRENCE.

Auckland, February 23. An arrest under circumstances of a peculiar character is said to have been made by the police on Saturday evening, and is likely to end to unpleasant complications. Weare given to understand that on thenight in question, several men entered an eating house kept by a Chinaman and called for 3upper. They were served with sausages, but one of the party expressed dissatisfaction with the food supplied to him, and assented that it had bsen cooked before. The restaurant keeper indignantly denied this, and offered to wager a pound that the sausages were fresh. His challenge was accepted, the wager made, and a third party chosen arbitrator. He gave his decision against the Chinaman, expressing the opinion that the sausages had been cooked half-a-dozen times, and the customer pocketed the pound. The celestial wa9, however, not so easily satisfied, and attempted to regain possession of his money by force. Several scuffles are said to have taken place, when Detective Hughes appeared upon the scene and prompcly took the customer into custody. He was brought to the Police Station, when an unexpected difficulty arose. No one could imagine what he should be charged with, and although the sergeant in charge had Acts and sections and subsectiens at his finger-ends by the square yard, he could not think of one would meet this special case. The pr'soner was left sitting in the guard-room for a hour or two, and it is asserted that Sergeant Pratt then appeared on the scene and offered him the alternative of returning the pound or being put in the cell. The position was one of Hobson's choice, and there being no satisfactory alternative, he paid the money under protest. He has now placed the matter in the hands of his solicitors, and intends proceeding againtt the police. This i?, ot course, one side of the story. Sergeant Pratt profe?sees innocence respecting the • whole affair, but does remember something about a gambling transaction, which led to the removal of a man from a restaurant on Saturday night. His quondam prisoner, however, expresses a kindly desire to refresh his memory* before he allows the case to drop.