MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21386, 31 January 1935, Page 9

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

.——. WEDNESDAY (Before Mr H. P. La wry, S.MJ THEFT OF BICYCLE Clarence Levi Jackson, of Ashburton, aged 32, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of a bicycle on January 29, valued at £3, the property of George Cecil Wilkinson. , It was stated that the accused had been convicted of bicycle thefts six times in the last three years. Jackson was sentenced to three months' imprisonment with hard labour. „ FINED FOR THEFT On a charge of stealing three bcttics of cordial,, valued at 5s 3d, belonging to Sharpe Bros, and Weir and Sealby, Ltd., Margaret Cecilia Hansbury was convicted and fined £1 10s. Default was fixed at three days' imprisonment. She was Ordered to pay also the value of one bottle, which was missing. CHARGES DISMISSED Two charges of selling sandwich loaves under the weight represented were made by the Labour Department against L. A. Woodward. Ltd. (Dr. A. L. Haslam). The defendants pleaded not. guilty. The charges were dismissed. Mr R. T. Bailey, who appeared for the department, said two loaves were weighed at one shop and were found to be short in weight by 3£oz and loz respectively. At another shop two more sandwich loaves were weighed and were short by IjOZ and loz respectively. The defendant seemed to be generally short in the weight of his bread. The department had recently been instructed to watch for cases where bread was being sold short of weight, and the present defendant seemed to be the only one very materially amiss in the weight of broad. Dr. Haslam submitted that no offence had been established. There was no doubt that the bread had been sold to the retailers, but there had been no misrepresentation as to the weight, nor was any definite weight demanded. Without proof of misrepresentation the action must fail. The magistrate agreed that there had not been enough evidence to establish that at the time of the sale by the defendant the bread was short in weight.

LABOUR DEPARTMENT'S PROSECUTIONS For failing to close its shop at. 1 p.m. on a statutory half-holiday, Frank A. Cook, Ltd., was fined 10s and ordered to pay costs. Henry L. Winder, of 465 Colombo street, and David McDonald, of 07 Wordsworth street, were fined £1 10s and £1 respectively for failing to close their shops at 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Each was ordered to pay costs. Three charges of employing female assistants after 10.30 p.m. were made against Ernest Zimmerman, manager of the .Melody Lane restaurant. On each of two he was fined 10s and ordered to pay costs, being ordered to pay costs on the third. Grace Kett,, charged with working after 10.30 p.m., was fined 10s, and Maisie Kilkelly was fined 5s for a similar offence. Each was ordered to pay costs. BREACHES OF UNEMPLOYMENT ACT The following fines were imposed under the Unemployment Act: — Failing to pay charge on income other than salary or wanes: Frederic George Kimbell, £2, and ordered to pay costs. Failing to register: Thomas Edward Brosnaban, £2, and ordered to pay cosls. He was also convicted and discharged on four charges of failing to pay levies, 13 others being adjourned sine die. Failing to pay levies: William Harvey McCallum, 5s on each of two charges and ordered to pay costs. On nine other charges he was convicted and discharged, and one charge was adjourned sine die. Failing to deduct wages tax: Robert Nixon Moore, £1 and ordered to pay costs. For employing a person with levies in arrears, he was lined £1 and ordered to pay costs; for failing to furnish a declaration of income other than salary or wages he was lined 5s and ordered to pay costs, while he was fined 10s and ordered to pay costs on a charge of failing to pay an instalment of the levy, being convicted and discharged on another charge of failing to pay one instalment. CIVIL COURT DECISION RESERVED Ninna Armitage, of Christchurch, widow, claimed £IOO from James Duncan, of Christchurch, publican. Duncan counter-claimed £3OO. Mr E. A. Lee appeared for the plaintiff and Mr W. J. Sim for the defendant. The claim had been partly heard. The action arose from an agreement between the parties to the action for the plaintiff to buy for £5500 the defendant's freehold interest in the Duvauchelle's Bay Hotel. The agreement was made conditional on the plaintiff being granted a magistrate's certificate of fitness to hold a publican's license. The application for the certificate was refused, and the plaintiff sought to recover the £IOO she had paid as deposit.

The defendant contended in his counter-claim that the contract imposed on the plaintitl an obligation to take all reasonable steps to obtain a certificate of fitness, and that plaintilT had failed to carry out this obligation and wilfully prejudiced the granting of the certificate. By that she had broken the contract. After hearing legal argument, the magistrate reserved decision. RANGIORA YESTERDAY (Before Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M.) Robert F. Campbell was fined £2 and was ordered to pay costs, for operating on the Picton-Blufl Main High* way at Woodend a heavy motor vehicle at a speed exceeding 20 miles an hour, the maximum provided for its class. For driving motor vehicles at speeds which might have been dangerous to the public, Percy E. Allison, Frank Edwin Richard Booth, Thomas R. Evans, Reg. J. Lamb, Robert Powell, Christian Scott, and William G. Sharpe were each fined 20s, and Eric J. Creed, Bram Lee, and Mrt Othlie S. Trewin were each fined £2. Orders for costs were made in each case.