POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 246, 17 October 1910, Page 5

POLICE COURT.

(Before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M.) THE DRUNKARDS. Annie Sargent, an elderly woman with a long record, who was found drunk in Mt. Eden railway station some days ago, was fined £2, or seven days, for breach of her prohibition order. James Alexander and Henry Warren Lewis were each fined 10/- or 48 hours, and Thoi_as Wilkinson 5/- or 24 hours. Two first offenders each forfeited £ 1 bail. A CASE DISMISSED. His Worship gave judgment in the case Police, v. Louisa Bewth. Defendant was charged with having kept a private hospital without -being legally authorised to do so. It was alleged that she had had in her house more than one lying-in case in one month. The frets were that for five days there were two women together in the bouse, one of which the defendant admitted was a lying-in case, but she claimed' that the other woman, who was awaiting confinement, was merely a boarder. The medical evidence was that the second case would need no special care or attention, and in the face of that evidence, his Worship would not convict the defendant. The information was dismissed. THEFT. Thomas William McMahon, a young man, was charged that at Woodhill, on the 6th October, he stole a pair.of riding breeches, value £1, the property of Frederick Jackson. Accused was employed as a farm hand by the defendant, and when lie left the place he took with him the garment mentioned. He was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when" called upon. ® LANGUAGE. 'Albert Edward Roussell -was heard to make use of a filthy, obscene expression in Grey-street on Saturday night, and arrested a few minutes later. One of his companions, the one to whom the expression was used, ran away, and the other two would not admit having heard any bad language. He was convicted on a charge of having used obscene language and fined £2. BEGGING. A middle-aged man named Lawrence O'Neill was charged with being an idle and disorderly person in that he placed himself in Queen-street for the purpose of soliciting alms. The man did not actually take up a stand at a street corner, but he moved about the street accosting likely looking men and asking them for money. He was seen accosting several people, and a constable, who followed him, actually heard him ask two men for a penny. When arrested.he was nearly drunk, and he had in his pockets 18 pennies, two threepenny pieces, and one sixpence, so that apparently the -man found the trade a fairly lucrative one. He was convicted and sent to gaol for a month. A beggar of a different and very much worse sort was Harry Wilson, a young fellow scarcely more than 20 years of age. He was charged that he was an idle and disorderly person in that he wandered abroad to solicit alms, and further, that he used threatening behaviour in the Newton Post Office. Mr, J. R. Lundon appeared for the* accused, who pleaded "not guilty." There could be no doubt about the facts, however. Accused went to the Newton Post Office, asked the Postmaster for the price of a meal, and -when that was not forthcoming, assumed an aggressive attitude and -demeanour, threatening to throw a lieavy ink-well at the postmaster. His record was a formidable one for a young man. He began by serving two terms of three months and four weeks in 1907 for theft and vagrancy, and in 1908 he was "put away" for two years for breaking and entering and theft (three charges). He was liberated early this year, and after two days of freedom he was again arrested at Helensville on two charges of soliciting alms, for which offences he went to gaol for six weeks. When arrested on Saturday he had in his possession the sum of £12 2/3, so that he was not by any means in need of help from anybody. The sum was made up of nine sovereigns, two pound-notes, a half-sovereign, eight single shillings, six sixpences, and five threepenny pieces. The amount of small change, the Sub-Inspector thought, suggested that he had plied his trade with some success before he was apprehended. The Magistrate thought that the accused was an undesirable sort of man to be at large, and imposed the maximum penalties in each case — three months' hard labour for begging, and £5 or a month for threatening behaviour. He was further charged that on the 13th August last, at Auckland, he stole a pair of boots. He pleaded "guiltj-," and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, the sentence to be cumulative with the other term. BY-LAW OFFENCES. Rudolph* Allen was fined 5/, costs 7/, for having allowed his horse to wander. Samuel White admitted having left a building in Grosvenor-street, Grey Lynn, at night without lighting it sufficiently, and was fined 10/, costs 7/. Defendant had permission from the Grey Lynn Council to move a building from one site to another along a street way, and it happened that he had to leave "it out on the road all nigUt-