MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25328, 30 October 1947, Page 4

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

WEDNESDAY (Before Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M.) UNLAWFUL PRESERVATIVE USED The Medical Officer of Health (Mr A. W. Brown) charged A. G. Pankhurst, a butcher, on three counts with selling meat containing an unlawful preservative, sulphur dioxide. Pankhurst, who was represented by Mr T. K. Papprill, pleaded guilty to all charges. Mr Brown said a health inspector had seen Pankhurst using a “shaker” on meat in his shop and when samples of the meat were taken later they all contained sulphur dioxide, a preservative substance. The use of the preservative was permitted in certain meats. In a written statement, Pankhurst pleaded ignorance of the law, and said he had been under a wrong impression when using the substance. On the first charge Pankhurst was convicted and fined £3, and on the other two he was convicted and ordered to pay costs. BUTCHER FINED McDonalds Butchery, Ltd. (Mr A. N. McKay), pleaded guilty when charged with keeping a pickling preservative without the necessary label attached, thereby committing a breach of the Health Regulations. Mr A. W. Brown, for the Department of Health, said a health inspector had visited the shop and had found a tin containing the preservative, but the label was indecipherable. Butchers had been warned over and over again as to their obligations and deaths had occurred because of the misuse of the preservative. A fine of 30s was imposed. BREACH OF BUILDING REGULATIONS

Herbert Nimmo Samuels (Mr R. A. Young) pleaded guilty to charges of erecting a building without first securing a permit; with failing to comply with requirements for the prevention of fire by not having all external walls built of fireresisting - material, and with knowingly permitting such conditions to exist, the breach being a continuing one. Mr W. R. Lascelles, who prosecuted for the Christchurch City Council, said Samuels had applied for a permit for a building at the corner of St. Asaph atad Phillips streets, which had been refused. On the first charge, Samuels was fined £5, and on the second he was convicted and ordered to pay costs. On the third charge, a conviction was entered and a penalty of 5s a day while the building is In its present state was imposed.

UNLICENSED RADIO SETS For being in possession of unlicensed radio sets, Reid Joseph Bates was fined 17s 6d, Ivan Owen Anning and Alec Brodie Arps each 10s, and Emile Hugo William Lippert ss.

INCOME TAX BREACHES The Commissioner of Taxes (Mr A. W. Brown) charged Charles Henry Franklin (Mr A. C. Brassington) on five counts with failing to furnish returns of income.

Mr Brown said defendant had no excuse, because he had been written to frequently. There had been no returns since 1942, until Tuesday, and up till this time defendant had taken no notice of the letters, although threatened with prosecution.

Franklin was fined £3 on each charge and ordered to pay solicitors’ fees. UNLICENSED ELECTRICIAN “Accused has not been charged with stealing electricity, but with breaches of the Electrical Wiremen’s Regulations, and they appear to be very substantial and dangerous breaches,” said the Magistrate, finding John Johnston £4, with solicitor’s fee, £2 2s, for doing electrical wiring work without a licence.

For the registrar of electrical wiremen, Mr A. W. Brown said that the accused, who had a little electrical knowledge, had made substantial alterations to the electrical fittings in his premises at Seafield avenue, Brooklands. The work was done in an extraordinary manner, and one wire had been shifted so that the current used by one light did not register on the meter.

This was not deliberately done, but indicated the manner in which the accused had gone about the work. He had shifted wires, lights, conduits, and even the switchboard. .One conduit had burned right through. . Detective-Sergeant G. Alty produced a statement in which Johnston admitted that he had done the work’without a licence, but said that he had not known that electricity for one light was being supplied without registering on the meter.