POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 147, 22 June 1923, Page 7

POLICE COURT.

(Before Mr. J. YV. Poynton, S.IL)

GIRLS WHO THREW STONES. A boy of Iβ came forward to grin sheepishly at the magistrate when a charge of throwing stones in the Domain was read. The watchful constable whom .-' the all-wise authorities sec fit to have on r duty in the Domain saw the boy throw <• three stones at come girls, one of the 1 missiles skidding across their path a r yard or so ahead. Asked by Mr. Poyn- \ ton, S.M., why he behaved like a larrikin t the' boy'frowned and muttered things i about the girls having first pelted him n with stones. His Worship's slow smile t was an indication that he found tin* I tale a bit tall. "But you should be polite i and not throw them back. If they threw ' stones at you, you probably deserved it," | ( remarked his Worship. -How much dolt you earn a week?" "Fifteen shillings, f sir." So it was decided that the lad i should hand over a week's wa#es, j plus costs 11/. MAOEI PROFANITY. The story of a Customs official who , was sworn at, abused and libelled was | told when the'case of Rangi Pirika was i j called. Accused, a fireman on the Tofua, | lost his temper with the official when he j j had swallowed too many pints, even for : , a Maori of large capacity. A Fijian, an intimate friend of the Maori, had been ( searched for suspected opium, and Rangi I , became very loquacious in approved ) ■shipboard cuss-words —too much so. . Even the time-hardened feelings of the . Customs man, accustomed to the ways , of short-tempered passengers, were hurt, . and Mr. V. N. Habble was instructed to , prosecute. For the expressive Native, . Mr. Gatenby submitted that Maoris . were somewhat priviliged In the matter j of obscenities. Their appreciation of ( words was vastly different from that of I a European. 'Hie magistrate looked over the fiery charge-sheet, and dropped it . quickly. The aggregate of words and expressions justified a £5 fine, or a month in Mt. Eden. SUNDAY TRADERS. For selling one shilling's worth of chocolates on a Sunday, Ernest Horspool was fined £1, with costs 0/. Nine small hoys went into the shop of Ernest Tasker on a Sabbath afternoon within the space of one short half-hour, while a constable watched and waited. At length lie nounced upon an unsu-pecting youngater and marched him back to the shop, ' I whore an admission was wrung from the retailer that he bad sold a penny chew; bar! It cost him 20/, with posts 11/.! Another shopkeeper, Dorothy C. Helliard, who sold apples, oranses. chewing gum, and cigarettes to a constable in plain clothes, was fined the. same—no discount for Government servants. WHEN SWEDE MEETS NOH.GE. j The sequel to a little round of drinks occurred last evening in a back street out Freeman's Bay way, when Martin Gerjsted (40), Christian Olsen, and another stood talking in a friendly man- , ner. Ol«en had never seen the man with ; the funny name before, and he was ju*t I beginning to think him quite a good fellow and charming conversationalist when Gerjsted suddenly lashed out with his fist and sent poor Olsen spinning to j land on the pavement. When Olsen had stopped counting all the stars and new stellar constellations he got a constable. I The list of previous convictions which Senior-Serseant Rawle produced would I give the ordinary man niehtmare* for a I week, but Gerjsted merely blinked. He i blinked again when the magistrate fixed I his address as Mount Eden for another j month. Unprovoked assaults are out of favour these days. ODDS AND ENDS. Tlerbert Barton (Mr. Allan Moody), who was convicted and fined £30 for betting last January, was found on a race-! course the other day. It cost him £5. | Henry Spencer (59). whom the magistrate declared to be "still drunk and not quite responsible," was convictd and discharged for drunkenness, and was remanded till Monday on a charge of wilful exposure. John McDonald Patereon (47), who ' had gone and got drunk for the thir 1 1 time In six months, got the option of C 3 1 or seven days turning big ones into ' little ones.