AN UNUSUAL CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 11 December 1913, Page 5

AN UNUSUAL CASE.

A CHARGE OF ARSON.. (By Telegraph—Fret* Auoeiation.) .CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night. An uTiusxtal case came before Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this afternoon, when Violet Cooper, a superior-looking girl of eighteen, was charged with having committed the crime of arson. ChiefDetective Bishop, in outlining the case, paid that the accused was employed as a domestic servant by Mrs Hurst, of Fendalton. On December 4th Mrs Hurst went out, leaving, the girl in charge, and giving her instructions regarding the cooking of the evening meal. The girl did not carry out her instructions, her explanation being that she did not know anything about cooking!. It was alleged that she then set fire to some curtains, and before the fire was got under, damage to 1 the extent of £5 was done. The accused was one of a family of seven ,which arrived in the Dominion in October last, and she, with another si«ter, supported their mother, who was a widow. On the suggestion of the magistrate, the charge was reduced to one of causing damage to the extent of £5, jn order that the accused might be dealt with summarily under the. Industrial Schools Act. The Magistrate imposed a nominal sentence of one month's imprisonment, with a recommendation to the Governor to bring,.the girl amder the provisions of section 25 of the Industrial Schools Act.