POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 27, 1 February 1921, Page 4

POLICE COURT.

i _——• ! (Before Mr. J. W. Poynton, SJI) ON THE " TOP DECK." I "This sort cf lanjruage on the top deck of the Opera House has become a regular annoy am c 10 the management, but is 1 usually used when the theatre is darki pned, and the offenders cant be spotted," , declared the Sub-Inspector when a sea- , faring youth, Leslie Layton (22i admit- ; ted that he had used obscene language in ' Fuller's Opwra House when he wa3 drunk. ;It was stated that the young fellow had used the bad language in a loud voice that was heard all over the theatre. S Remarking that blackguardly be- ! haviour of the kind had to be firmly : dealt with, his Worship sentenced Layton to a month's hard labour. 1 PICKED TH£ WROx\ T G MEN. i He said 'you're the joker,' and struck ! mc, and I retaliated," declared James 'Hy McGinn (27.1, when charged in con- ' junction with Thos. Donovan (2S) witli i fighting in C ii~toms Street last night. ! Donovan said that he had been man- ; handled earlier in the day, and mistook McGinn for the man who had knocked him about. His Worship intimated that people I could not be allowed to make mistakes Inf the violent kind indicated, and fined j Donovan £5, and convicted and disI rharp-ed McGinn. There was a.l=o a matter of mistaken identity involved in a charge against a ijluc ar-ket, Rienard Hale (30), of having ' assaulted Albert W. Dbcon in Queen Street yesterday afternoon. He had J struck Dixon an unexpected and violent j blow, and according to a bystander there j was absolutely no provocation Hale i maintained that Dixon was the man he j bad met a little time previously in a I bar, and "he called mc an awful name, sir." Dixon was able to show that he was pot in the bar at the time stated, and HaJe was fined 40/ and ordered to pay 51/ costs. CRICKETER IN , TROTTBLE. A plea for extension of probation was put up on behalf of Eric Augustus Schrader (22) by Mr. A. Moody, who j entered for accused a plea of guilty on a : charge of theft of f5 from the pockets of a fellow-workman. The Probation Officer stated that Schrader had been put oa probation in Wellington for theft from another man's pockets, and in January of this year accused came to Auckland and under witness' charge with a report on his case, intimating, among other things, that Schrader had been a prominent cricketer in Wellington. Witness found that accused was getting good money, about £6 a -week, but was not saving anything. j In reply to the magistrate the chief- ; detective stated that the offence in AuckI land was of a similar kind to that comI mitted in Wellington. His Worship I thereupon remarked that there was a ten- ■ dency to carry probation too far. Here I was a case of a young man earning good j wages, with no responsibility, and after' ! having bc-en given a chance after one I mean theft he almost immediately commits another. Accused would be sentenced to six months' hard labour. I A HOXTSS AT DARGAVIIiE. I That he obtained £45 from Alfred H. I Dillon, of Kumeu, on the false represent tation that he owned a house at Dargaville, valued at £1500, was the offence charged against Cecil Stanley Chaplin (30), for -whom Mr. R. A. Singer appeared. Dillon stated that Chaplin put up a proposition that he and Reginald H. Skelton should erect a sawmill on witness' farm at Kumeu, each putting £2000 into the business, and mill the timber on the property. In the course of consulting Chaplin on the subject witness was informed by accused, he 6aid, that the latter had a house worth £1500 !at Dargaville, on which he proposed to I raise his £1000 for the mill proposition, |and he borrowed £15 to go to Dargaville jto attend to the matter, and afterwards I got £30. Accused signed the agreement I respecting the timber business, but hadn't J raised the £1000 or started to carry ont ! his part oi the contract, and eventually 1 had admitted that be did not own any ' house at Dargaville. Reginald Heba . Skelton corroborated the evidence a≤ to I the mill proposal, and said he himself • had lent Chaplin small amounts, but the latter had not raised the £1000 necessary to carry out the work. Detective Fitzgibbon said that Chaplin, when interviewed, stated that he had no house at Dargaville. and denied having told Dillon that be had any suet property. Accused, who pleaded not giiilty, was committed to the Supreme Court fes trial. MIS CHIXAITEOTTS. James Frame (60). an elderly aod infirm man, who had cleared away from the Salvation Army Home, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment on a j charge of vagrancy. Two first offenders I for drunkenness forfeited bail, and Mabel Walters (40), up for a second recent offence of drunkenness, having been for some time remanded for medical treatment, was ordered to pay 42/ costs, in default seven days* imprisonment. Alfred Geo. England (411 and Wenzl G. Schischka (41), on charges relating to an unnatural offence, were remanded for a week.