POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 311, 31 December 1923, Page 6

POLICE COURT.

(Before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.JL) NEW YEAR IN GAOL. After being out of gaol only a week. Wm. Knox (51) was arrested in the' city at the week-end on a charge of vagrancy. This morning he was nvea a very bad character by several wit,, nesses called by Detective ffanunotiiL Constable Moon and Detective O'Soliivan both deposed to having seen Kn ol in the company of thieves, while Detective Meiklejohn stated that accused had been knocking around with the worst type of criminal in Auckland. "Why don't you get out and do some honest work'/" queried the magistrate. "Wot i wants to say is this "ere, ver Worship, and that's not contradicting these ere witnesses, but savin' that they only saw mc jU the hotels with. the fellows they mentioned standin' alongside like, an' a course they natnrally thought I was with them, when I was nothin' of the sort, but only standin' alongside like," explained Knox. "Well, they won't see you there for the next three months, anyway,"' rapped Mr. Hum, £.M. "Take him away!" A GIRL'S LAPSE. A lady who went visiting in the Graf, ton district the other aiternoon discovered on returning to her home that she had lost her purse and gold watch. Next day she raug up her iriend, and inquired for the missing articles. The maid answered the 'phone, and learned what the trouble was, but she did not say anything. The articles could not be found in the house. Next day the maid announced that she had, by a strange coincidence, found the watch on Grafton Bridge, and the timepiece was returned, but not so the purse and the £5 10/ which it contained. Subsequently, the maid admitted that she had stolen the articles and money while the visitor was in the house. She had spent £3 of the stolen money. It was stated that the girl had beer, under the supervision of the matron of the girls' receiving home for the past five years. She had been earning good wages, and no explanation could be ascribed for the lapse. The magistrate placed the girl, aged 18, on probation for a period of 12 months, and ordered that restitution of £3 be made. . . r . DRUNK IN A CAR. ' T A Tespectably-dressed young man, Ivan Hastie (22), pleaded not guilty when charged with having been drunk while in charge of a motor car. The charge was laid as the /esult of an accident in Queen Street, at the Victoria Street intersection, on Saturday between 6.20 and 6.30 p.m. A. V. Carrier, of St. Helier's, who got into the witness-stand with a head swathed in bandages and a cut face, said that he saw Eastie lose control of his car at the intersection. After "fumbling about on the tram lines trying to start, the car shot forward at about 15 miles an hour," knocked the witness down, and went careering on to smash into another car on the stand in Victoria Street West. The driver was obviously drunk. Rowland L. HDI, taxi-driver, stated emphatically that the driver of the car was not Hastie. "The car was driven by a tall, slim young fellow, with a dark complexion." 1 A statement was produced, signed by accused, in which he admitted the facts of the case. "I was not sober, but I was not drunk,'' said accused in evidence. "You ought to think yourself very lucky that I'm not sending you to gaol like they do down in Wellington," said Mr. Hunt, S.M.. adding that irresponsible young fellows should not be granted licenses. Accused was convicted and fined £10, in default one month. The 'magistrate commented on the evidence of the witness Hill, stating that it was testimony of tnis kind that made the work of the Caurt very difficult. The witness concerned v:as not allowed expenses.

A MATTER OF "BwLS-ERHTG." "I object to that. The police have had long enough already to bolster up a case against mc," said Benjamia Barker (59), charged with _avin2 indecently assaulted a female on December 7, when Senior-Detective Hammond asked for another rt.-mand till January 3, adding that they would then be ready to proceed. '"Yes, they have bolstered up two or three charges against yon already, haven't they!" queried his Worship in an ironical tone, granting the remand. Bail was allowed. CHALLENGED THE WORLD. Augustus Silva (20), a bold voting sailorman, who had just a few too many on Saturday night, got himself disliked when he stood in the middle of Victoria Street, stripped off coat and hat, and called on the world to deliver up a contender for his self-bestowed title. "♦'> e of the pedestrians being of a disposition belligerent, a constable accommodated Silva, and after a speedy and one-sided one-round tussle the champion was deposed from his throne and cast ignominious!}- into the blacsness of a policestation cell. A chastened and docile soul this morning, all Silva begged was that his skipper be asked to pa*y the fine of 40/ which the magistrate imposed, so that he would not have to do seven days hardening his muscles in the quarry at Mount Eden.