A DARING CHILD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 312, 31 December 1903, Page 4

A DARING CHILD.

RUX3 AWAY WITH A HORSE AND* CART. ; In the box of 'the Police Court- this morning there appeared a tiny: little chap under six years old. The charge that was read out against him was that on December 30, at Auckland, he dieS steal one cart and horse valued at £2Qy belonging to one George Mills, and also ten packets of cigarettes belonging to the same. The object of thiai serious charge, was called Arthur Sing* He is a half-caste Chinese, and his father cooks at one of the ciiy hotels. It appears that the owner of the cart, who is a fruiterer, located in Symonds-street, left it outside the Fruit Mart while he went in to purchase his usual stock. When he came back the cart had disappeared. The police were communicated with, and: the out stations warned that the cart had gone. Presently a constable saw the vehicle in Newton, in charge 08 the boy. He went up to the boy, who was unable to manage the horse, and asked him what he was doing with it.' The answer was apparently that ne was taking it home for his father- The horse hhd bolted through Karanga-hape-road, but had done no damage nor sustained any- The constable assumed charge of the vehicle and the boy, and. endeavoured to re-collect the largesse of cigarettes he had been distributing to his boy friends. He got back a lot' of four, which the boy bad thrown to a boy near by. This is the poliei statement of the matter, and the lad was duly charged at the Court this morning. The Court (Messrs J. and H. M. Shepherd, J.P.s) eyed the lad doubtfully, and when the sub-inspector askert fo* a remand, said that it was simply' ridiculous to charge a child at that age with theft. . Sub-inspector Black said that the reason the child was so charged was that his mother was away from Auckland, and his father, being a cook, could not exercise any control over him. The boy simply ran wild, and his father wished to have him sent to an industrial school. The same method had been employed by Ibe police in similar cases, and no objection had been raised. It was the simplest way that the matter could be dealt with. The father Was willing that it should be done, for the boy was quite beyond his controlThe Bench said'that the police should have brought the child lip on some other charge. No remand would tie granted, and the case would be dismissed. This ended the case. ;,-