POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 288, 3 December 1907, Page 4

POLICE COURT.

(Before Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M.) A "MERRY" MOOD AND AN " ESCAPE." Peter Dove denied that he was drunk and a disturbing influence at the Salvation Army open-air meeting layt night, in support of which denial he appealed to the commanding officer of the corps, who was in Court. That officer admitted that Dove was in a " merry " mood, and inclined to put questions of both an irrelevant and irreverent nature to those in charge of the meeting; but he upheld Dove's contention that the meeting was not being disturbed, remarking that they always anticipated a certain amount of pleasantry from bystanders whose humour was " merry." The officer, in fact, was surprised when a constable arrested the man, as he personally was of opinion that Dove could have found his way home unaided. The_ magisterial extraction of truth from the subject, however, went considerably to warrant police intervention for inebriety. Dove's tourings, ostensibly in search of work, began, on his own showing, about 7.30 a.m. yesterday morning, Onehungawards. He reached the goal, and had a jdrink- He met an acquaintance and had another drink, and, rubbing his wrinkled brow with a palsied palm, failed to remember just how many more he had before returning to town, via the Epsom hotel. The city of Auckland proper welcomed his return some time ajjproaching sundown, by which time the heat, the quaffing of beer, and the excitement of the day generally, had reduced him to the " merry " mood discovered by the officer of the Salvation Army, and unsentimentally dubbed " drunk " by the officer in Government uniform.

" You're a fit subject for the asylum down at the ' Island,'" commented his Worship to the anxious Dove. " This is your fourth time up in six months, and a residence down there would undoubtedly be good for yoii." "No, sir; no, sir," pleaded the agitated and vrell-nigh panic-stricken culprit. i "Give mc another chance, and I promise I you I will never get here again. 1 fought all through the Boer war, and I got a very good character. Now. just another chance, sir, I took the prohibition order i-out against myself, and I have honestly j tried to get along without it." And : Dove tremblingly endeavoured to wipe ! the apprehension from his perspiring I forehead, -while to his fevered imagina- ; tiou the " Island" beckoned horribly. , Twelve months of sylvan seclusion on its I sea-girt shores held no charm for him I whatever, and he choked back the dread of it visibly. '■' Well," conceded the magistrate, " we ; will let you off with a conviction this ■ time, but next occasion you come back tar-down to the 'Island' you go!" and TJovp- walked off to find the necessary j cab hire with the air of a man reprieved from a very ill fate indeed. INEBRIATE. Arthur Morris, young and. brawny, disputed several assertions that he was not only drunk, but exceeding disorderly, and not a little inclined to become aggressively dangerous in and about his place ,of residence yesterday. He agreed, after j a little persuasion, however, that he might have been drunk, but entirely I scouted the notion of having threatened j his wife or, in short, of having conducted j himself in any other way than tolerable j seemliness. He escaped with luck and la. ten shilling fine. Three first offenders : parted with the time-honoured 5/. and a. a fourth, with " a sprained arm, or broken arm, or something, your Worship," negligently shing in a loose sleeve, went away under request to come back for sentence when required. MAINTENANCE. Patrick O'Brien, for disobeying an order for the support of his child, was convicted and fined 10/- on each of two charges. Frederick Dean was fined 10/----on a similar charge. AN EARLY START. A little girl of ten summers or !►■??, charged with stealing a dress and a pair of shoes, pleaded guilty and was consigned to the care of the Auckland Industrial School.