POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 187, 7 August 1918, Page 4

POLICE COURT.

m (Before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M.) _ ".* I>_ttT-n_ENSESS. ' One first offender forfeited bail and one was fined 5/-. William Robert McLaren (40), who had committed a ' nuisance in Queen Street when he wis ; drunk, was fined 25/-. STRATEGY OF SELF-DEFENCE; .. James Alexander Denny (41) and Patrick Lynch (38) were charged witfighting in Customs' Street yesterday afternoon. Lynch admitted having started the argument and the war, while ■',' Denny said that the combat was forced on him, and he only defended himselL . "Surely you didn't expect mc to turn and run away, sir," he exclaimed when told [that a person attacked in the street was expected to retreat from impending .... trouble. He was informed thai the least ~'.'■'.'. [he could do in such circumstances was'to '--■"*■ ' execute a strategic retreat until he had drawn the enemy to a secluded spot, - where be might counter-attack as vigor-., y ously as he considered necessary within '■ the limits of reason. Lynch, as the Germanic party to the breach, was fined 20/-, while Denny was ; fined 5/-. JUST TO KEEP HIS HAND IN. Jack Pomana, a Maori soldier, who did not appear, was charged that 0n,.:, July 13 he assaulted Erie H. Coulston. ; The evidence was to the effect that on the day in question Coulston was walking along Khyber Pass Road when he met two Maori soldiers, who were under the influence of liquor. Coulston! .'• '•, stepped aside to let them pass, when one of them, Pomana, without anything hay- V ing been said, lunged at and struck hint with his fist, knocking him down on the '■ roadway. The soldiers ran away, and - Coulston went and complained to Constable Annis, who found both soldiers in , ' a boardinghouse a little distance from the scene of the trouble. Pomana then ' i said the pakeha gave him cheek, which .'■■: Coulston denied. f^M Bomana was fined 40/ and 21/ costs* ■<*; half the fine to go to Coulston. J££ WHAT WASN'T HIS'N. William Thomas Cooper (18) wa_ charged with a breach or the Postal Act ~>j in that on April 27 he fraudulently re- ; tamed a postal packet which should '.-. have been delivered to William Cooper. The evidence was to the effect that ac- ~,1 cused received by post a Savings Bank deposit acknowledgment slip for 50/, in- "••; tended for another man named Win. J Cooper. He retained the slip, and went ■ 3 to the Savings Bank, and, although he bad no account there, he said he bad an i%* account, but had lost his book, and he applied for another book, at the same >■ time showing the acknowledgment Blip gx. $ in support of his statement. Of course, •when bis application went to head- -jM quarters it was recognised that the vr acknowledgment slip bad fallen into the • j hands of the wrong person. Plain- ~.'.,;. clothes Constable McHugh called on accused, who admitted that ho had acted ' ; as be did in the hope of being able to get the 50/ referred to in the acknow- /_ ledgment slip. . V Accused pleaded "guilty," and was - committed to the Supreme Court for. 'f sentence, bail being allowed in one i - surety of £25. . '* MXSCIX_A-_O.S. John C. Harrison (38), charged with obtaining money by false pretences, was ', further remanded for eight days. ;•