ONEHUNGA COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 69, 21 March 1916, Page 9

ONEHUNGA COURT.

A'sitting of "the Onehuh'ga Court was held yesterday, Mr. Page, S.M., presiding. A Chinese Assaulted. —A returned ; soldier named Archibald Elkington appeared to answer, a charge of assaulting a Chinaman named Queen Lee on tbe evening of March 17 last. SJsrgeant \ Rogers conducted the case for the police. Constable McLeod deposed that while on duty in Queen Street on th? night in question he saw Elkington, who was under the influence of liquor, standing a few yards below Queen Lee's laundry shop. Knowing that accused l [ was inclined to have pugilistic tendencies While under the influence of J liquor, the constable stood watching him! L for some while, but on everything ap- ■ pearing to be quiet he proceeded on his , beat. When returning at>out ten minutes , later he wag informed of the assault, , and went in to see the Chinaman, whom ( t he found to be bleeding from the ear ' and the side of the face. His eye was also considerably swollen. Elkington at , this time was found to be standing just y round the corner with some other men, and Queen Lee,, immediately picked hira ' out as his assailant., Whiles .iv the shop / he jpicjied.up a leather ' wristlet-band, w ( h,ieh. - .was,.co.vere4 with 'blood, and was similar to one usually worn by accused. The Chinaman was an inoffensive old fellow, who had been in the colony about forty years, reason could be found for the assault. Queen Lee's evidence was to the effect that on going into his shop to inquire what Elkington .' wanted, that gentleman unscrewed the . knob off his bell, which was on the counter, and savagely attacked him with it, and wounded him severely in t the eye, ear, and head. He could give no reason for the assault, as he had not known Elkington previously. The wristlet found by the constable dropped off accused's arm during the struggle, j Sergeant Rogers stated that Elkington had three previous convictions against : him for assault. Elkington did not go into the box, but made a statement to \ the effect that he did not know any- - thing about the assault, and \va6 more than surprised when Constable McLeod presented him with a summons. He stated that he had left for Egypt with i the Main Body, but owing to receiving a kick from a horse on the shoulder during tbe trip across, which had rcn- ' dered one arm useless, he had to be discharged, an 4 was unable to do work of any kind. His wife is in receipt of 35/ i per week from the Patriotic Fund, but he was not receiving anything from the * Defence authorities. Mc had three small t children, and protested that the last ; thing he would think of doing would be ' to assault a Chinaman. Mr. Page said ' he found it difficult to deal with a case I * of this kind. It was quite obvious that » the man was totally incapacitated, and ' any tine inflicted would fall heavily on * the man's wife. However, he could not » overlook the fact that an unprovoked - assault had been made on an inoffensive " Chinaman, and as the assault was no 5 doubt caused by drink he would pro- ; hibit Elkington and fine him £.1 and " costs D/, half the line to go to Queen i Lee. A Nuisance.-—For permitting a nuisance to exist on his premises in Queen J ..Stjce-t, Qpphjipga,, & J. ,Brooke was fined £2 and' costs "/. ' Miscellaneous.—l). J. Hyauiason * pleaded guilty to doing some sanitary * plumbing at his house, but stated that " as -he held a waterworks license for the ' city, and as he lived outside the drain- " age area, he thought he was doing no wrong in doing the work himself, which was just to put in a waste-pipe from his bath to the trap over the drain. Mr. Vockney (Town Clerk) etated that the defendant had been very open in the matter when spoken to, and had not tried to hide anything from the inspector, and under the circumstances tbe c Council did not press for a heavy pen- ° alty. Defendant was convicted and ." ordered to pay Court costs "/. David Berson. for cycling on the foot- ? path in Caraphell Road, was fined 3/ * and costs "/. c " Fergus Brennan was allowed fourteen days in which to pay a fine of £2 and costs 7/ for procuring liquor while he c " was prohibited. -* After Hours. —The Inspector of Fac- *» tories-, (Mr. W. New-ton) proceeded l ? against -Watts Bros, and J. H. Ward, r ' grocers,, and J. E. -Cowell, ironmonger, B ' for. not .closing at 1 p.m. sharp on the '■& statutory half-holiday. It was stated ls that an inspector visited Onehunga on r ' February 12, and found the defendants' *, shops open at various times from 1 p.m. "* to 1.1.1 p.m. All three pleaded guilty, i- and Messrs. Watts Bros, and Cowell > p were fined 10/ and coses 7/. while -I. H. 10 Ward was fined £ 1 and costs 10/, he »n having delivered some goods after being >c warned by the inspector not to do so.— in For employing an assistant after 1 p.m. s- on February o F. C. Marks was fined to 10/ and cost;. 7/.