MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1921, Page 7

MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

NEW PLYMOUTH SITTING. A sitting of the Magistrate’s Court was held at New Plymouth yesterday, before Mr. C. R. Orr Walker, S.M., when the following cases were dealt with:— ASSAULT IN HOTEL BAR. George Hunt, who was unrepresented by counsel, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Arthur Owen. Murphy by ■striking him with a glass mug in. the bar of the Terminus Hotel on June 25. He also pleaded guilty to a further charge of breaking the mug and causing damage to the extent of 2s 6d. Senior-Sergeant McCrorie, in outlining the circumstances, said that the defendant was very abusive to the barman, and when leaving the hotel, without any apparent provocation, lie hit Murphy on the face with a glass mug he had in his hand. As a result Murphy had to receive medical attention. The defendant said he had had an argument with Murphy over a coursing matter. As he was leaving the bar he thought Murphy was about to strike him and so defendant used the mug to ward off the expected blow. The mug was broken by falling on the floor. The Magistrate said that defendant had not shown that provocation had been caused sufficient to warrant the assault. The charge was a serious one, and Hunt might have had to answer a charge of manslaughter. On the charge of assault he would be fined £lO, and: have to pay the doctor's fee of £•! Is. He would be allowed 14 days in which to pay, in default one month’s imprisonment with hard labor. On the minor charge of breaking the glass mug he would be convicted and discharged, defendant to pay costs 7s, and the value of the mug, 2s 6d. ON LICENSED PREMISES. Two first offenders pleaded guilty to a charge of being found, in the bar of the Royal Hotel at a time when the premises were required by law to be closed, and were fined £1 and costs 7s. BY-LAW CASES. For riding a bicycle on - a borough footpath, Edwin Harris was fined 10s (costs 7s). Thomas Rooke and Ernest Hoffmann, for committing similar offences after warnings had been given, were each fined £1 and costs. / POLICE v. HAWKE.

The. Magistrate gave his judgment in the case of Police v. W. E. Hawke. The was partly heard some weeks a?o. ftawke was charged with failing to give audible and sufficient warning of the approach of his car when coining up behind a bicycle ridden by 11. W. Stevens. Both motorist and cyclist were proceeding in the direction of Fitzroyi Hawke was further charged with driving at a speed dangerous to the public. The information arose out of an accident which took place between Hawke’s car and Stevens’ cycle.

The Magistrate said that, though lie was by no means sure Hawke was not guilty of negligence, the information would be dismissed an account of the insufficiency of evidence. He was glad, however, that the police were taking up these cases.