STRATFORD.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 December 1921, Page 6

STRATFORD.

STRATFORD AGENCY. Advertisements and items of news for publication in tte Taranaki Daily News should be left at the office of our local representatives, Wilson Bros., Broadway, Stratford. Or tiers for papers may also be left will’ them. MAGISTRATE’S COURT December 7. Mr. A. M. Mowlem, S.M., presided at a sitting of the Stratford Magistrate’s Court to-day. BY-LAW CASES. Thomas Barleyman. charged with riding a motor cycle not provided with a light, was fined £2 and 7s costs. Thomas Gooch, charged with drivihg a horse and gig, the gig not being provided with lights, on show night, was fined £1 and' 7s costs. James E. Winter, charged with riding a bicycle along the footpath, was fined 10s and 7s costs. INCIDENT ON A RACE TRAIN. A sequel to an accident which occurred on the train returning from the Waver- - ley races on Labor Day was heard when Cyril Paul Theobold was charged with smoking in a non-smoking carriage, with obstructing a railway official, with us-

ing indecent language to a railway official. and with behaving in a violent and offensive manner in a railway carriage. Sergeant Dale appeared for the police. Mr. Coleman appeared for the defendant, who pleaded guilty to the first charge and not guilty to the other charges. , Charles Alexander Boyd. railway ticket inspector, stated that on the night of the Waverley races he passed through the train and spoke to Theobold. who i was smoking in a nTTn-smoking carriage I warning him not to smoke. He then I passed on through the train and on eomI ing through the carriage again he found Theobald still smoking. He again spoke to Theobald, who struck at him, and a scuffle took place. Other passengers separate*! them and witness had LEe doors of the carriage locked and stood at on% door, a guard being at the other door. Theobald then used the language complained of. To Mr. Coleman: lie did not address Theobald in an aggressive manner. He was dressed in private clothes and so far as his appearance was concerned | there was nothing to show that witness was a railway official. He had seen . many others smoking in compartments ■ of non-smoking cars. When he first spoke to Theobald he stated that he was j a railway inspector. He was then in ; uniform, but he changed in the guards } van and it was on the second occasion | that he was in plain clothes. Cyril Paul Theobald stated that he j was returning from the Waverley races, J sitting in a non-smoking carriage. PreI vious to getting to Hawera he had seen | the inspector go through the train. I After leaving Hawera a man. followed by | two others,°all in plain clothes, came j through the train. The first man askI ed witness what he was doing smoking in a non-smoking carriage. Witness | laughed at him. and the man said he | must have witness’ name.. Witness | gave his name. Later witness put on his hat and coat, remarking that he would have to leave the carriage if he | wished to smoke. He mpved towards I the carriage door, lighting another cigJ arette on the way. as it was blowing _ a hurricane outside. When almost at the door he met the man again and the » man said, ‘-'You are smoking again.” r Witness replied that he was going out and the man asked for his name. W itS ness replied that he had already given j his name. The man then barred the way out of the door, which annoyed ! witness who asked two or three times 3 to be allowed to get out. W put 5 his hand on the door knob and the man k immediately put both hands on witness. ' Witness placed his hands on the other p man and they swayed over and fell into | one of the seats. • | On the charge of smoking in a non--3 smoking railway carriage defendant was I fined Cl and costs. The .charge of using f indecent language was dismissed. On p the charge of behaving in a violent and ? offensive manner defendant was fined £5 I and costs. On the charge of obstructb in* a railway official in the performance | of°his duty defendant was convicted.

SACRED CONCERT PROSECUTION. A case which has aroused a great deal i of interest during the past few weeks was heard when Charles Ward was charged with holding a sacred concert m the Kings Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 30, without obtaining the written consent of the Strat_ford Borough Council. Mr. Fookes appeared for the informant, and Mr. Coleman appeared for the defendant, who pleaded not guilty. Mr. Fookes said that in a letter to the i Press defendant admitted that he had not : obtained permission, and counsel contended ■ that defendant in his letter took the reI sponsibiiity for promoting the concert. ’ Mr. Coleman said that whilst defendant admitted being a promoter of the concert, 1 it. was held that no permission was necesSd Mr. Fookes submitted the concert programme, which, he contended, was not the programme which would be presented at a sacred concert. The concert was for a poor blind man, for whom everyone in the town had every sympathy and commended the promoters for their effort. At a meeting of the Borough Council it was decided to prosecute. Since then the letter had appeared in the paper, and as iti I flouted public authority, it left nothing for the council to do but to prosecute. Philip Skoglund, town clerk, stated that | no permission was applied for and no pro- ; gramme was submitted for the holding of | the concert. i To Mr. Coleman: The general purposes i committee of the council met on the night ' following the concert and resolved to prose- | cute. Mr. Ward’s’ letter subsequently ap- : peared in the paper, and at the meeting ' of the council the following week the re- ! solution was confirmed, an amendment to ! rescind it being lost. If the council had ■given permission it would not take any steps to check receipts. No permit was given in the case of the Roberts concert. Mr. Coleman said that defendant had heard that a young married man named Mather, with nine children dependent upon him, had met with an accident and lost the sight of both eyes. Mr. Ward had organised a sacred concert to help this man. He had obtained the permission of one of the directors of the picture company to hold the concert. After the com cert had been given the council by a resolution decided to prosecute. Some few months before he had given a similar concert under exactly the same circumstances, and the council had not taken any action. Mr. Coleman contended that iux aauseAt

was necessary, and he quoted by-laws in support of his contention. Mr. Fookes submitted that the authority of the council, must be vindicated, and must be upheld. He did not for a vindictive penalty. The magistrate said that he could see nothing in the license or the by-laws which would permit of the holding of the concert. It was essential that councils in various districts should be able to control the class of programme which should be given at a concert held on Sunday. The defendant had acted wrongly all through. The whole thing might have been obviated by a little tact on the part of defendant. Defendant was convicted and fined £1 and £1 8s costs.' CLAIM FOR WAGES. Fred Jepsen (Mr. Tyrer) claimed from Jesse Simmonds (Mr. Coleman) the sum of £l6 14s wages for work done by plaintiff for defendant. Simmonds counterclaimed for £7, being money lent to Jepsen. The amount of 7s 6d was paid into court by defendant, and judgment was given for plaintiff for this amount. In connection with the coifhter-claim, judgment. was given for Simmonds for the sum of £5. UNDEFENDED CASES. Judgment was given for plaintiff by default in the following cases: Commissioner of Taxes v. W. E. Watson, £1 2s 2d and £1 8s; F. Y- Burkett (Mr. Tyrer) v. C. Dyke, £l6 Ils and £2 19s; Stratford Loan and Deposit Co. (W\ Lawrence) v. J. W. Anderson, £45 Ils sd, £4 Ils 6d costs; Farmers’ Co-operative Society (Mr. Moss) v. F. Hurlestoue, £llB 12s 4d and £6 17s costs; John Orr (Mr. Moss) v. E. W. Fitzsimmons, £8 9s 9d and £1 10s 6d costs; Stratford Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd. (Mr. King) v. Wilson’s Motor Supplies, Ltd., £24 4s and £3 Is costs. Orders were made in judgment summons cases as follow 7 : W. R. Hawke (Mr King) v. A. Tullock, £5 15s 6d to be paid at the rate of £1 per month, in default six days’ imprisonment; W. Mclnnes (Mr. Moss) v. Gordon Thomas, £1 16s 6d to be paid within one month, in default two days’ imprisonment; T. Smith (Mr. Moss) v. A. J. Hill, £4 2s 2d, to be paid within fourteen days, in default five days’ im-

prisonment; A. J. Davey (Mr. King) v. A. A. Cuthbertson, £ll Jis 6d, tq be paid on or before February 28, 1922, in default twelve days’ imprisonment. CAWSEY v. BROWN. Reserved judgment in a case of interest to the farming community, that of Cawsey v. Brown, was given. In this case the plaintiffs, Cawsey Brothers, of Hawera, sought to recover from defendant, A. J. Brown, of Douglas, the sum of £6l ss, alleged to be due to them as their share under a share-milking agreement in writing, dated September 21, 192 b. The defendant also counter-claimed to recover from the plaintiffs the sum of £2OO as damages sustained by the defendant, as he alleged owing to the plaintiffs’ consistent refusal to carry out the terms of the agreement. The magistrate said it was plain that the defendant has suffered damage for the failure on The plaintiffs’ part to perform the obligations imposed on them by clause 7 of the agreement. Judgment was entered for the plaintiff in the original action for £37 13s and costs. The counterclaim lodged by the defendant alleged that the defendant has suffered .damage because of the refusal and neglect of the plaintiffs to perform the terms of the agreement. Judgment was given for the defendant Brown on his counter-claim for £52 18s and costs. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. The monthly meeting of the Stratford Chamber of Commerce was held on Tuesday night, B. Richards presiding. The chairman . reported on the conference of Chambers of Commerce held in Christchurch, at which he represented the Stratford Chamber.—The chairman was thanked for the great interest he had taken in the conference. With regard to the proposal to establish an experimental farm in Taranaki, the chairman said that he had interviewed Dr. Reakes, Director of Agriculture, in Wellington, who was very sympathetic with the movement but considered that nothing could be done just yet. He had, how ; ever, offered to send manure for the purpose of experiment, and the speaker said that he would write for the manure to be sent up. It was decided to accept an invitation from Kaponga to pay a visit to that town on Wednesday evening for the purpose of assisting in the formation of a Chamber of Commerce there. Mr. Mclnnes pointed out that the alteration in the timetable which caused the train which previously left Stratford for New Plymouth at 3.15 p.m. now left at 1.50 p.m., and this was very inconvenient for children attending school at Stratford, who now had to until 5.40 pan. for a train. Mr. Thomson pointed out that the delaying of the 9.45 a.m. train for Hawera would also inconvenience school children. He moved that an expression of opinion should be asked for from the local school committee.—Carried. Mr. Malone moved “Th at'on the eve- of his retirement this Chamber place on record its appreciation of the splendid service rendered to education by Mr. F. Tyrer during his term of office as headmaster of the Stratford District High School, and

further records appreciation of his beneficial influence to the community by reason of his wide knowledge of *human nature, and his readiness to exercise his knowledge for the benefit of others.”— Carried. PERSONAL. Nurse Jean Cameron, daughter of Mr. R. H. Cameron, of Stratford, left yesterday by the Tahiti for San Francisco, to gain further experience in the nursing prot fession. Nurse Cameron commenced her nursing career at the Stratford hospital, receiving her later training at Wanganui. In 1915 she volunteered for war service, and after serving three trips on the hospital ship Maheno went Home on the Tahiti, being a member of that ship’s staff during the influenza outbreak. She was presented by Brigadier-General Richardson with a medal in recognition of her services. She then saw service at Walton and Brockenhurst, and on returning to New Zealand took up work at Featherston Camp, later going to the Cashmere Hills Sanatorium at Christchurch. Nurse Cameron afterwards proceeded to the King George Hospital at Rotorua, where she has been engaged for the last eighteen months, resigning her position in order to proceed to San Francisco.