POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 102, 29 April 1912, Page 5

POLICE COURT.

! (Before Messrs. C. Grant and X. How, 1 j . J.P/s.) DRUNKENNESS. '. The effect of an inclement week-end | «as observable in the number of cases of over-indulgence in liquor. Five first . I : offenders, who had since Saturday sufI 'iereil the cold discomfort of the cells, ' i were convicted and discharged, and an- ' ! ! other, -who had had to be. taken to a ' chemist for repairs, was let off with aI ; conviction and an order to pay 9/ for the I'• repairs. One first offender who left a j £1 note to represent him at the police |' station, had that sum impounded for the.' good of the State. Enoch Helmcr Thorn, i' i who had added to his indiscretion by j' I expressing his opinion of the arresting! ( constable publicly and in unpadiament-1 [ i ! ary language, wps fined £3 for the i . I accumulated indiscretion. David Leith ; ( I and Wm. T. .lack-on were fined 5' each,: ' j John Murphy 20/. and John Ford 40/, i ' ■ ] with a default, of seven days' hard j ' [ ! labour. " I . ! J IN AGAIN. i > ! Francis Murphy. who had but recently ! ( t ■ 'been liberated after a Jong term in gaol ] . 1 for housebreaking. appeared on a charge ' . , ; that he was an incorrigible rogue. Senior ■ I Sergeant MacKinnon stated that since; the man had obtained his liberty he had, '. Hone no work, and slept our at nights. : ( It was obvious that he could not live ; without food, and could not get a living without working or stealing. He had;, clone no work, and a number of cases of \ pilfering had been reported, so that it j . was desirable in the interests of society , ' I that the man should be put out of the : way. Evidence was given that accused | aid no work, ,-'nd a he had nothing.; to say in his own behalf, he was sen- ■ tenced to twelve months' hard labour. HEARD BY NIGHT. The sounds of disturbance in a house '. ' lin Nelson-street after midnight on the | i sth in.st. drew a (unstable from the I ' street to the verandah, and in conse- , j J quence, Mrs. K. Page was called on to j . answer a charge- of using obscene) language. The constable at the timei made his presence known, and th"' j . woman stated that she was only repeat- j j , ing what her husband, who was drunk. ; ha.l said to her. Mr. Allan Moody, for .uriiscd. .Uated that the husband came home, drunk, and when his wife re•noveil some beer he had with him, he a.-saulted her and us-ed the language ' complained of. The woman, in angry resentment at the unexpected attack, repeated the language in astonishment, { He contended, under such circumstances,: ■ ■considering the time and the fact that . her ejaculation had been made in a I : house and at a time when public morals ' were not likely to suffer, even if it could ] : t'<: hear.] on the street, that then; was ; 1 i not sufficient cause for a conviction. The ! ! I'.'TK'h dismissed the. case, on payment I , ;by accused of 7/ c-o=ts. SHOP-LIFTING. ] A young man named (Jeorge Powell. '■ at nix o'clock on Saturday evening.! i walked into Fowlds' -hop. in Queen- , 1 j->trcet, and purchased a tie. As he went;] ".it lie pi-ked up a pair of trousers, pu'. ' { :!ioin over his arm and proceeded. Ik- ;i got as fur as the first constable wh'-n ! jix »hi»]> assistant, who had felt sullicient- ' Ily interested in hLs movements to fol- ' low him, introduced him to the con- ! -table. Hence Powell's appearance on a , ihnrgi' of theft of the trousers, valued at 10/lf. Mr. Allan Moody said that unused admitted the theft," but stated thai ho had been drinking during th" ' •day. and was under the influence of; liquor when hr did the idiotic act. i Senior Sergeant MacKinnon remarked I that it w;is to Powells credit th.U he " was a stranger to the police, but lie! ; was not at the time drunk enough to. be locked up for that reason, and thes- -, | , acts of shop-lifting were so prevalent , that some deterrent fine should be in* ' , posed. Accused was fined CI and 12/ h costs; in default, a week's hard labour, j AUCTION ROOM THEFTS. A carter named Thomas Edward ' Pearson was charged that on Friday he ' -tole live cases of pears (value 20/1 from P Turner's auction mart, and two cases ' of grapes lvalue IS/) from the mart of j ! the Waitematu Fruitgrowers' Associa- ! tion. Chiff-Uetective Mar.-ack said that accused, "ho admitted the offences, was;' employed by a Ponsonby carter, and in : the course of his business at the two i ; marts mentioned he loaded on his cart; ■ the pears and the grapes. They were-; subsequently missed, and discovered on '■ ■ tile barrow of a hawker. whence they' ■ were traced back to Pearson, who had' sold them cheap to the hawker. Thcs- \ i thefts from auction marts were so i prevalent that Mr. Turner had stated' ■ that he lost .€4O worth of fruit. whi«h | 'had been stolen in odd cases during the) > I year. It was very hard to trace the ' I thefts, particularly in the case of car-' • j tors, who had entry to the marts on'; j business, and could easily slip away: j with more than their rightful load. • j Pearson stated that it was only after[ J lie delivered hi" loads that he found hp | , I had the seven cases over. He thought he would be suspected of intended theft ' if ho took them back, and being short i of money, he yielded to the impulse to i sell them. The Bench imposed a lino of : C> and the cost o* th:- fruit I3S. 1, with an alternative of a month in Mt. Eden Gaol. A FINAL SPREE. J Francis Maitland was hist, week con-! j signed to Rotoroa Island for it year, but, his alcoholic eondit : on was such that _ he had to be sent to the District HoS-j , pital. He apparently picked up the run . of the ropt s in quick time, for he was ■ found drunk in the Hospital this morn-i j j ing. and was forwards back to the cells lon the verge of D.T.'s. Charged with j this additional offence, he was ordere 1 , a week's medical treatment in the ga.ol , infirmary prior to his departure for tth.> : ••Island." I MISCELLANEOUS. ] ' A momentary lapse of memory with! ' respect to chaining the wheel of his unattended cart cost a driver. Arthur Charles Gribblc. a fine of a', and 7/