POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 233, 2 October 1925, Page 8

POLICE COURT.

■ _ (Before Mr. J. W, Poynton, 6__.)] DROPPED IN TO SHELTER. "I could not get in the Army Hornlast night and I tried three hoarding houses an dcould not get a bed th either, so I just dropped into the church grounds to shelter from the cold wind" said Robert Collier (59), who pleaded guilty to a charge of having h3.;n f oun(l last night without lawful excuse on tha premises of St. Matthew's Church. The magistrate convicted and' drcharged Collier. A HOPELESS CASE. George Arnold (42), who looked faf from being tidy, pleaded guilty when charged with being an idle and disorderly person with insufficient lawful means of support. Senior-Sergeant Edwards stated that Arnold was observed by a constable at 5 o'clock this morning as he was «ohv» from the railway station to the King's wharf. Accused had been in the habit of sleeping out anywhere and was gettin« his food from various places. Arnold arrived in New Zealand as a stowaway in 1924 and since then he had been up on four occasions for vagrancy. On tha last occasion he was sentenced to three months. "I'm a capable sort of fellow you know only I've been locked out," said tha accused. Mr. Poynton: Well, you've been locked out a few times. I'm afraid you're a hopeless case. Three months. BOUND FOR THE BORSTAL. A youth of eighteen, Thomas Joseph Fenton, pleaded guilty to charges of steal* ing f 1 and a fountain pen from postal packets, also to a charge of having failed to comply with the terms and conditions of his release on probation. Detective Lambert said that accused, while employed jointly by a storekeeper and postmaster in a country town, had ; extracted the money and pen from postal ' packets. When first interviewed he admitted the offences, but did not attend | Court on summons and had to be arrested at Rotorua. .. i The probation officer (Mr. W. J. Campbell) said that Fenton was admitted to two years' probation in December of last year, but had not reported himself since June.

The Chief Detective added that Fenton had been convicted of five charges of breaking and entering in 1922, when ha was sent to an industrial home. He waa later convicted ar.d discharged for theft. His father was a decent respectable maa but would have no more to do with him.

The magistrate said that probation had evidently not done accused any good. He would be sentenced to three years in the Borstal Institution. ,

DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR.

Three young men—T. J. McKenna, R, Postlewaite, and H. Smith—were each charged with behaving in a disorderly manner in Hardinge Street on the even, ing of September 11. They pleaded not guilty.

Constable Allan stated in evidenca that the three accused were sitting ou a window sill partaking of a fish supper. Broken beer bottles were strewn on the footpath in front of them. Later they adjourned to another street, where they commenced to kick benzine tins about. As well as making a noise they made use of obscene language, but witness could not pick which one was the offender.

McKenna said he did not remember anything about the matter, it was so long ago. The other two had nothing to say.

Senior Sergeant Edwards said that McKenna had a number of convictions, and was at present serving a sentence of two months' imprisonment. Nothing was known about Postlewaite or Smith.

McKenna was sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment, to take effect after his present term expires, while the other two accused were each fined £3 and costs.

COULD NOT WAIT A WEEK. A pica of guilty was entered by Thomas Alfred Holt when charged with procuring liquor while prohibited. ''When found in the Waitemata Hotel the defendant had a pint of beer in front of him," said the senior sergeant. Mr. Poynton: Couldn't you wait another week, when your order would have expired? Holt: No, it was not that, «r. I thought it had run out. A tine of £2 and costs was inflicted. , AFTER HOURS. Clive Bennett (Mr. McLiver), who pleaded guilty to 'being found on the licensed premises of the Royal Hotel after hours, was fined £1 and costs. , WATER IN MILK. A milk vendor, Charles Barker, who pleaded guilty to having sold milk which contained 9 per cent of added water, was fined £10 and costs. j HALF-CENTURY REACHED. A middle-aged man, Joseph South, fo* whom Mr. Selwyn Mays appeared, was charged with assaulting* Catherine South, j using obscene language, and also with j wilfully damaging a door to the extent !of fl, tha property of Charles Green, at New Lynn. It was stated by Senior Sergeant Edwards that about midnight on tho night in question South, who was drunk, created a disturbance and assaulted his sister-in-law, with whom he resided. In a statement made to a constable the woman alleged that she tripped and fell, South kicking her. He then went and got a spade and smashed his neighbour 3 door. , • Mr. Mays said that it was quite true that accused had been before the Court on many occasions before. However, lie had not been up since last November, Since then South had left the town and had gone to New Lynn, where he haa been steadily working on a pipe-laying contract. He was a hard worker, and tne only trouble was that some fool, « rather criminal, had given him B WW" of whisky. It was the liquor tha w« the cause of all the trouble. South M_ paid for the damage done to the door. • Accused's foreman was called, ana ! stated that South was a hard worker I who had not given any trouble at any; | time since he had been on the JOB. I Mrs. South said that she did not WW !to see her brother-in-law jmwWvJ" denied that South kicked her intention lallv. She was a widow with.several ! children, and accused had helped her to,d South thai he was making his fiftieth.appearancei betore Court: However, he would be finea t on the charge of using obscene language, and on the assault charge would be to victed and ordered to come up ™ tence when called upon within Accused must keep away from during that time, otherwise he would brought up again.