POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 167, 14 July 1908, Page 5

POLICE COURT.

(Before Mr C. C. Kettle, S.M.) , A ROUNDABOUT TRANSACTION. The youth Alfred Harris, employed occasionally by Mrs E. M. Dunlop, of Onehunga, appeared on remand this morning to answer the charge of having stolen on February 6 last a letter containing a cheque for £S 6/6 from the "Canterbury Times" Company to Mrs Dunlop, Mr Marsack prosecuting. Mrs Dunlop received advice that the cheque had been posted to her, and evidence was given that the letter containing it had been c placed in the post-box at her gate. She < did not receive it, however, but on Feb- c ruary 7, it turned up at the bank, and c the "Canterbury Times" Company were t duly notified and debited with the i amount. ( Young Harris, in a statement to Detee- i tive Scott, admitted that on the day in t question he prospected Mrs Dunlop's let- c tcr-box for moneyed matter, secured the i cheque, and rode Mrs Dunlop's grey pony t home to tea. After tea he went along j the Mount Smart-road for a ride and a t consultation with himself as to the dis- c posal of the cheque, and here he met a j man on horseback. A Conversation sprang up between them upon the ever- ( interesting subject of horseflesh, the up- \ shot of which was that when they parted ] Harris was leading the other man's horse c and riding equipment, and the cheque was reposing in the pocketbook of their -, erstwhile owner, the difference of the j deal, £1, bping in Harris' pocket in i cash. The new owner of the outfit next , day disposed of his purchase for £3, hay- , ing thus cashed his cheque at a discount ,j of some 50 per cent." This morning , Harris pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. He was permitted bail in a bond of £50. TE KUITI WHISKY. William Smith, of sandy complexion and about 35 years, wanted to know who had charged him, when accused of stealing on the 7th inst. six bottles of whisky at To Kuiti. Chief Detective Marsack's answer was that the matter was a police information, and he then asked for a week's remand to Te Kuiti. Smith ' clearly regarded the accusation of stealing whisky in a prohibited district as ' somewhat untenable, but he finally - agreed grudgingly to be remanded as desired. SCRAP IRON COMFORT. A dark-haired Cingalese, yclept the unoricntal name of G. lt. Johns, stepped into the dock on the count of being a vag- - rant, and regarded everything with dull eyes a$ he leant with languorous indifference against the rail. Whether his hold on life were less than his desire to live was not easy to determine from the outwardness ot things, but Sergeant Hendry explained that since the arrival of Johns to this country four or five years ago the declination of his health and fortune had been rapid. Ho was now dying from consumption, and last night was found lying cola, wot, and hungry on a scrap-iron heap. The magistrate decided that a week's remand for preliminary medical attention was the best thing for the friendless alien. TOO COMMON. Alexander Wilson's lapse from the graca of decent and becoming behaviour in Fort-street last night produced a comment from the Bench that this sort , of thing was growing far too common for . the good repute of the community, and Wilson was awarded in consequence 48 hours to repent him in thorny and bounden contemplation. PENDING. A tall, slender man in leggings named Wallace Scott was on tho sheet for obi taining £ 1 12/ from one Andrew Morris jon the Bth inst. by means of a valucleS« j cheque on the Bank of New Zealand. Mr [ Marsack said that the man was only • brought down from Papakura this morning, and as there were three or four ! other charges pending against him, he j would ask for a remand till Friday next. Scott remarked nothing, and the required remand was granted. SOWING THE WIND. Alexander James Stewart, a somewhat stolid looking citizen, but generally just as respectable and credit-worthy of mien as twelve out of any other average dozen men who jostle through life oil sundry missions, has been found out. It must have been a reckless disregard for- the law of averages that seized him when he broadcasted bogus cheques among the Auckland tradespeople between the end of last month and the early part of this; but he cast the die against arithmetic, and arithmetic hap added him up, and found him lacking most of the qualities that assist a man to keep the Commandment "Thou shalt not be found out." Certainly the temporary success of his efforts to encourage trade and confidence among the slippkcepers was warranted to turn the head of a wiser man, and eloquently testifies to the honest shopping of the average Auckland shopper, and the consequent belief in his brother man's honesty that reposes in the breast of the Auckland tradesman. Stewart, who manufactured several aliases to facilitate business, was on a fair way towards giving them all ti turn when the banks began to return dishonoured and unrecognised cheques, seven of them being on exhilit in Court this niorning, and others, according to Sergeant Hendry, at any time expected. The drapery vendors of the tGwn were his principal cftstomers for cheques, but the Devonport Ferry Company also purchased one in return for an annual ticket to the North Shore and a littlo loose cash, while he exchanged another for a perambulator and the necessary coin equaliser of differences. "It Is dimply marvellous how Auckland tradespeople confide in the cheques of unknown strangers," remarked Mr. Kettle when Stewart pleaded a laconic "guilty" to all charges. "It simply encourages this kind of offence," he added, and Stewart Was committed for sentence. INEBRIATE. Two first offenders disposed of the tally. MAINTENANCE. William Edward Maurice Wilson, who has disobeyed the order of the court re- ' specting the maintenance of his wife and three children, was sentenced to one month's imprisonment on each of the four charges, sentence to be suspended for seven days. ;