WAITARA NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 34, 3 August 1911, Page 4

WAITARA NEWS

(From Our Own Correspondent). MAGISTRATE'S COURT. In the S.M. Court, judgment by default was given in the following cases:; Purehas and .Sons v. Tawhanga, claim £3 18s lOd and cost/s £1 15s tki; Jones v. Tuna, claim £3 His 7d, costs £1 as; Lake v. Jas. Smith, claim £O, costs £1 18s; Commissioner of Taxes v. D. 0. Shute, claim £79 ltis Bd, costs £1 18s; same v. same, claim £144 17s. 2<l, cost* £2 8s; J. Bebhunc v. L. Copeatake, claim £5, costs £1 10s. JUDGMENT SUMMONSES. P. W. Scully v. Isaac Elliot, amount to •be paid within seven days, in default seven days' imprisonment. W. P. Snell v. Joseph Taylor, claim £27 4«; amount to ibe paid within fourteen days, in default fourteen days' imprisonment. For failing to send their children to school the requisite number of times tines of 2s were inflicted in the following cases: M. Farquha.r (5s costs), T. Norticot/t, tJliree charges (5s costs), P. Fuller, W. McKenzie, E. Frost, T. Jones (10a costs), H. Richardson, E. Jeffries, E. Marsh (10s costs), R. McKeiuie (10a costs), S. Marsh (10s costs). BREACH OF THE LICENSING ACT. Leo. Jacob, of Mokau, iwas oharged that 'he did give an order for the supply of liquor to a resident in a proclaimed area without furnishing in writing to the vendor the name of the purchaser. Sergeant Dart prosecuted on behalf o! the police, and " Mr. George Grey appeared for the defendant. Sergeant Dart said the information as laid was due to the fact stated. (According to the Act the contention wag that t)he person ordering for someone else must give in writing the name of the purchaser, and this defendant did not do. K was fcliie first case of its kind taken in the Dominion, and if the magistrate held there was a breach of the Aot, the Department did not intend to press for more than a nominal penalty. His Worship asked if, seeing the message was a telephone one it was bad, whereaa if it had been telegraphic it would have held good? He did not think the Legislature intended such. The Sergeant said such a point was to.O subtle for him to express an opinion. A. Goldwater deposed to having received a telephone message from Jacob ordering some liquor for Mrs. Stewart, of Mokau, which m.s fulfilled. Mra. Stewart was in the telephone bureau at Mokau when the liquor was ordered, a« he heard defendant ask her what brand was required. Mr. Jacob was postmaster. His Worship said defendant was only the mouthpiece of Mrs. Stewart, who was' actually in the telephone office directing defendant to give the message. Jacob was practically in the position of an interpreter. Constable Wftrnoford deposed that Jacob had admitted to him ordering by telephone, as postmaster, for Mrs. Stewart, a case of whisky. Jacob also told him afterwards that he 'had taken an open letter containing monev, either from Mrs. Stewart or Mrs. Box. for Mr. GmM water. Mr. Grey made n lengthy address to the court, the purport of which was to show that defendant merely se«t the message in his capacity as postmaster. Defendant gave evidence that he simply sent the message as from Mrs. Stewart, who was in the office at the time. His Worship said he must hold that the order was the personal order of Mrs. Stewart, and that defendant was, ae postmaster, merely a mouthpiece or conduit to convey the message. The information was dismissed. BOROUGH COUNCIL. The ordinary monthly meeting of the Waitara Borough Ooimcil was held last evening. Correspondence was read from the following:— Prom the hon. secretary of the Fire Brigade suggesting the erection of fire plug notice boards, so as-to enable the members to readily pick up plug wells at any time. From tihe District Health Offioer suggesting that the Council appoint an official as a nuisance inspector. From • the Taranaki Hospital and Charitaible Aid Board re new hospital, and informing the Council 'that, their share of the cost would be approximately £4OO. From Mr. E. P. Webster, district agent of the South British Insurance Compony, covering a letter from the Underwriters? Association, stating tihat no communication had been received from the Waitara Borough Council in reference to a reduction in insurance rates. Prom the Underwriters' Association, acknowledging receipt of a letter of July 20, enclosing a copy of a letter of April 6 (which was not received), and stating that the association is not prepared, at the present time, to consider any applications for reductions in rates. From Mrs. Smaile, drawing the Council's attention to the fact that the drain in Cracroft street w»« musing her fence to slipi away, and asking for attention to it. The engineer's, foreman's and wnterworiks overseer's reports were read. General accounts amounting to £53 lfls Id and loan accounts £459 (is 7d were passed for payment. •The finding of the Arbitration Court, in the case Spiral Steel Pipe Co.. of Wangswiui, v. Council, was submitted by the borough solicitors, Messrs. Roy ann Nicholson. It seems particularly hard on a defendant in a police prosecution that he is not entitled to coks. In the case ol Leo. Jacob, of Mokau, who was acting in his official capacity as postmaster, that he should be "prosecuted at hie own expense." Here is a man in a public position who is frequently called on to transmit telephone message for the reason that many people are una We to do so for themselves, and in obliging one he is put to a harassing prosecution wihieh. no doubt, will co»t him from £l2 to £ls. wd he must 'be the low*. Evidently it does not pay to be obliging in a telephone office. *