POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 278, 22 November 1915, Page 6

POLICE COURT.

(Before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M.) DRUNKENNESS. Two first offenders, who had been in custody over the week-end, were convicted and discharged; three forfeited bail, and one was fined 5/. John Simoil (40), who had been "in" eince Saturday, was convicted and discharged for a second offence. Maud Andrews (40), fpr getting drunk when prohibited, was fined £2, in default seven days. UNDER COVER OF THE CROW©, Robert John Ashley (30) admitted a charge that he was disorderly while drunk in Queen Street on Saturday night. Chief Detective McMahon stated that at a few minutes after ten o'clock on Saturday night, when there was a large crowd, including many women, about one of the carnival stalls at the top end of Queen Street, Ashley behaved himself! in a rather blackguardly manner. He: systematically walked bo'hind women in , ; the crowd and caught hold of their skirts in an offensive manner. This behaviour was noticed by Detective Cum-; mingfi, who, seeing that the man *'83 j under the influence of liquor, arrested him on the charge of being disorderly while drunk. When Ashley was searched at the Police Station a pair of scissors was found in one of his pockets. He i stated that he kept these for the pur- j pose of trimming his finger-nails, but his nails by their very appearance rebuttrd the statement, and the .presence of the scissors, in conjunction with the mans behaviour, raised a suspicion that he carried them for the purpose of damaging ladies' clothing. At any rate, it wae obvioU3 that there was something of the larrikin element in Ashley, who was a recent arrival from the Islands. "While I -was walking about I was swinging my hands, and may have touched the women's dresses, but it waa unintentional,'' explained Ashley. Accused was convicted and fined 20/, in default three days' hard la-bour. ABSENCE MADE PERMANENT. William Carey, wlio had been arrested at Aratapu on a charge of failing to provide bie wile in Auckland with adequate maintenance, was called on to show cause why his wife should not obtain an order of separation from him, and of maintenance for herself and four children. The grounds for the application were persistent cruelty aud failure to maintain. He stated that he had no cause to show respecting the proposed orders. Senior-Sergeant Rutledge stated that a warrant for Carey's arrest had been issued in August, and it was not until last week thai he wae found at Aratapu, going under the name of Williams. Carey eaid that things were bad in Auckland, so he left for the country to look for a permanent job, but could get only casual work at sawmille, and his earnings averaged only about 30/ a week. The Wife: I was told he made £6 17/ a week by a man that was up there. Senior Sergeant: He eeems to be too fond of drink. I believe that has some- J thing to do with the trouble. His Worship made an order of eeparation, granting the wife guardianship of the children. He also prohibited Carey (by consent), and made a maintenance ! order of 30/ a week against him. MISCELLANEOUS. William Henry Copestake, on a charge that he had committed perjury in the course of an affiliation case in the Auckland Magistrate's Court, in -which Ue was defendant, was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Bail was"fixed at two sureties of £50 each.