COMEDY OF NAMES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 193, 29 May 1934, Page 3

COMEDY OF NAMES.

MAN FOUND IN HOTEL. (Special to the " Guardian.") AUCKLAND, May 28. A man whose name' was White, but who was called Brown, and whose nickname also included "Tom," almost found himself in trouble in the Police Court. He was discovered by a police sergeant in an hotel on April 14 at 1.1.15 p.m. The defendant was William John White, who was found by Sergeant Dunn with a. glass of beer in his hand and partly drunk in Gleeson's Hotel. Frederick Vernon Home, the licensee, was charged with selling liquor after hours, and W. David Huston, the barman, with supplying liquor after hours. AH three were given the benefit of the doubt by Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M. White, said Sergeant Dunn, gave his name and said that he was booked in for the night. The liccnseo told Mr Hunt that White was the only Brown in his hotel. White was known as Brown, and was known to the barman only by that name. The barman said he knew AVhite as Brown and always called him by that name. If he had known that the man s name was White, he would have written White in the register. White was just as easy to write as Brown, but he knew him as Brown, so he had written Brown. When asked for the ter by the sergeant, he had pointed to White as Brown, because ho thought ho was Brown. White, when giving evidence, said that ho had only been in the hotel a minute when the police came m. tio had hist come in from the pictures, after" having had his tea at the hotel. The person in whose room he .roing to stay know, him as "Tom. ° "H'm," said Mr Hunt, and dismissed the case.