SUPREME COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 51, 9 June 1910, Page 5

SUPREME COURT.

| IWELKA SENTENCED. PRACTICALLY LIFE TEILU By Telegraph —Press Association. Palmerston North, Yesterday. Powelka was seiiU'.icod to fourieen years' imprisonment for larceny and breaking and entering, and seven years' for arson at the High School, si utenccs to be cumulative. Prior to being sentenced aivused said he was not guilty of all the charges', and pleaded for leniency. POST OFFICIAL'S LAPSE. .ITDGE EDWARD'S HOMILY. Wanganui, Yesterday. | In the Supreme Court this morning Judge Edwards, in sentencing Beattie for theft of a postal note from Marton Post Oll'ice, said that from the time of the passing of the First Offenders' Pro-i bation Act he had intimated that in no! circumstances would postal officials eon-| victed of stealing letters passing through the Post Office be admitted to .probation. Such thefts might have, and dull have, an effect fav beyond that attaching! to stealing money under ordinary cireum-j stances. A postal official who stole a. letter passing from husband to wife might by his act drive the woman into] the arms of another mail. In this coun-| try. where so many men had to seek for maintenance of themselves and their families in remote country districts, and where breadwinners had to remit to their wives and families sums they earned, it might follow that if letters containing such remittances were stolen in the Post] Office, a wife might be driven into the! arms of another man. Indeed, families might be broken up, and lives endangered by such thefts. In such cases it was absolutely essential that correspondence passing through the Post Office must be kept sacred. In the present case, said His Honor, the prisoner had shown every indication of callousness' and inhumanity. He had stolen a letter containing £l. which an old woman,' tottering on the verge of hir grave, had, sent to her son, who had been the victim of an accident. Knowing this, he! took the paltry sum and kept it for some months, and then devoted it to! purposes of gambling. His Honor said he would give full effect to the recommendation of the jury for leniency, and sentenced prisoner to nine months' imprisonment, with hard labor.

BOOKMAKER AND CLIENTS. A CHARGE OF THEFT. WaiTganwi, Last Night. A decision of great importance to the betting fraternity w-is given by Mr. Justice Edwards at the Supreme Court this afternoon. | At the March races a ibookmaker named Barnes was plying his calling. He accepted what was described as an absurd price about the favorite Lady Lucy. The favorite won, and Barns declared that he was "broke." He offered to repay deposits to the extent of money in his bag, and to pay the balance at the Rutland Hotel in the evening. He paid out all the available money, and was then arrested on a charge of theft.' Previous to the race starting, ibnt af-j ter the betting had closed, Rams was seen to hand a bundle of notes 1 to his clerk Coakley, who then disappeared, Coakley and Barns were brought before the S.M. who sentenced them to one and three months' imprisonment respectively. They appealed, and the sentences were held in abeyance pending the appeal, 1 which was heard to-day. ; Mr. Justice Edwards said no jury, would convict 011 such evidence, and quashed the conviction without cauing upon the defence. He said that in order to succeed the Crown must prove that the accused, at the time of taking the deposits, had formed an intention of steling them. ] The Crown Prosecntor said there would 'be great difficulty in the case were it not for the fact that accused was making away with his money. j His Honor: "He had not the money on him, but it does not matter where it was." | In concluding, His Honor said that when a depositor's money went into a bookmaker's possession, it really became the bookmaker's property. The deoosi-j tor risked the bookmaker's solvency, not necessarily his respectability. THE LIQUOR LAW. A PUBLICAN'S APPEAL. APPEAL ALLOWED. Christ-church Last Night. In the Supreme Court to-day fin imprrtant judgment of Mr. Justice Clmp-i man's was read in the appeal case, M. J.j Suhan v. Jas. Holes. 1

The appellant was convicted and fined £5 and his license, endorsed for having permitted drunkenness on his licensed premises. j The facts were that a man who. when sober, had arranged for his accomnioda- 1 tion. and was subsequently found asleep on a form in the passage of the hotel in an intoxicated condition. The ground of the appeal was thnt the man so found was on the premises under his contract with the landlord to provide, him with meals and lodgings. | His Honor, in allowing the appril, held that where a man comes to an hotel sober and makes arrangement for f|is accommodations iitid bficomesl a odger. and iis afterwards found by the police in an intoxicated condition, the (landlord cannot be properly cmviotnd of permitting drunkenness, and that the lodier had a right by contract to be onl the promises. | The appeal was allowed, and His Honor directed that the conviction be set aside. I Mr. .T. A. Cassidv appeared for appellant. and Mr. Stringer, K.C., for respondent. I

THEFT OF A WATCH AND CHATX. ! A MOTOR COLLISION. Palmerston North. Last Ni<rht. 711 the Sunreme Court. Robert Pntric Da.lv was found jrni-ltv of the theft o a watch mid 'lmin. valued at £.")0. from Mr. C. B. TMmrazyn. Ho will lie sen tenced to-morrow. Tn a civil case. Campbell, of Foxton was awarded C.'iO damages. with costs, f 'ir dniii;v<re caused l>v n motor collision. One, HeiiTiessev. of Foxton, was the defendant.