Magistrate’s Court Conversion Of Truck Ended With Accident

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28257, 20 April 1957, Page 14

Magistrate’s Court Conversion Of Truck Ended With Accident

When Francis James Rhind was walking down Riccarton road on April 13, intending to hitch-hike to Dunedin, he decided to take a truck which he saw parked, but got only as far as Burnham, where he ran into the back of a car at 75 miles an hour, said Inspector C. H. Reardon in the Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. Rhind, aged 19. pleaded guilty to a charge of converting the truck, valued at £ 850, the property of E. H. Atkinson.

Rhind also pleaded guilty to a charge of driving in a dangerous manner. Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., remanded him in custody for sentence on May 2. Atkinson left the truck, with the ignition key in it, in Riccarton road at 2 p.m., said Inspector Reardon. Rhind saw it parked at 3 p.m. and drove it off. At Burnham, he tried to pass a car at a high speed, but struck the back of it The truck travelled 59 yards and went into a ditch. GAOL FOR BIGAMY Appearing for sentence on a charge of bigamy, John Gordon Bates, aged 27, a truck driver, was sent to gaol for a year. Mr J. B. Weir, for Bates, said that since Bates came to New Zealand from England with his wife they had not been happy together. They had separated, and his wife had started proceedings for divorce. Bates was anxious to marry the second woman. Bigamy, a serious offence, with serious social consequences, was met with severe penalties, said the Magistrate. He did not think Bates’s case merited leniency. WASHING-UP CHARGE Stanley Arnold Nicholson, aged 43, a workman, pleaded guilty to charges of obtaining goods and money to the value of £4 18s 8d and £2 8s 9d from Joseph Henry Pyke, and £lO from Percy Walter Wright, by false pretences, at Washdyke on February 17. Senior-Detective G. C. Urquhart said that Nicholson was at present serving a four-year gaol sentence, imposed on him on March 4 in the Dunedin Magistrate’s Court, for false pretences. The present charges could be regarded as washing-up ones. Nicholson was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on each charge.

DISCHARGED WITHOUT CONVICTION Leslie Charles Smith, aged 23 (Mr J. B. Weir), pleaded, not guilty to a charge of stealing £5 9s 8d from the New. Zealand Railways Department while he was a railway employee. The Magistrate discharged him without conviction under section 42 of the Criminal Justice Act. Senior-Detective Urquhart said that Smith was in charge of the railway station at Templeton. He was trader the control of the Islington stationmaster, to whom he sent his accounts daily. When William Newburn, the chief stationmaster, Christchurch, paid a routine visit to Templeton on January 28, Smith was not at the station, but was located in a nearby hotel. There was only 2s 7d in the safe, and Smith said he had given his wife £ 1 to get change. He was suspended Immediately for being on licensed premises during working hours. Discrepancies of £5 9s 8d were later found in his books. He admitted sometimes taking money and replacing it later. NAME SUPPRESSED A 17-year-old girl, whose name was suppressed, and for whom Mr C. M. Roper appeared, was released on probation for two years, on condition that she makes restitution of £3. when she appeared for sentence on two charges of false pretences. BREACH OF PROHIBITION “If you go on like this you’ll find yourself on Roto Roa Island,’ said the Magistrate when Leonard Desmond Turvey pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a breach of his prohibition order. Turvey was fined £3. UNREGISTERED FIREARM George Francis Townsend was fined £2 for having possession of an unregistered firearm. LIQUOR NEAR DANCE HALL William Joseph Trenbath was fined £3 on a charge of having liquor near the Yaldhurst Hall while a dance was in progress, on March 9. MILITARY TRAINING BREACHES

For failing to attend military parades, Martin James Pickworth and Robert Sidney King were each fined £5. Gordon Roy Mclntyre was fined £5 for failing to attend military training. John Glen was fined £2 on a Similar charge. REMANDED On a charge of obscene q?posure in Cranmer square, to which he pleaded guilty, William Miri Berry, aged 23, a presser (Mr G. 8. Brockett), was remanded to April 29. Bail was renewed. David Edward Plummer, aged 39, a postmaster, was further remanded, on renewed bail, to May 2 on a charge of stealing £1156 5s 5d from the New Zealand Railways Department while he was a railway employee, at Little River, between November 1, 1956, and ApriPfi, 1957. Mr W. F. Brown appeared for Plummer. ‘ -

Donald Courtney Smith, charged with being idle and disorderly in that he had insufficient lawful visible means of support, was remanded to April 23. FALSE PRETENCE CHARGES Joyce Noeline Walker, aged 37, a married woman (Mr A. D. Holland), pleaded guilty to eight charges of obtaining goods from the New Zealand Farmers’ Cooperative Association by falsely representing that she had authority to charge them to an account. The Magistrate adjourned the charges to May 2 for a probation officer’s report and sentence. Senior-Detective G. C. Urquhart said that the accused had bought goods at the shop and charged them to the account of her neighbour. A total of £8 5s 2d was involved. BREAKING AND ENTERING Appearing for sentence on five c harges of breaking and entering and one of being a rogue and vagabond. Maurice James Hogg,

aged 38, a workman, was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. BORSTAL TRAINING Richard David Hills, aged 20. a social security beneficiary, and lan Clifford Goodhew, aged 20, a cook, appeared for sentence on joint charges of unlawful conversion of a motor-cycle and a bicycle. Hills was also charged with driving a motor-cycle when under the influence of liquor and with driving without a driving licence and Goodhew with the conversion of a bicycle.. The Magistrate, committing Hills to Borstal training, said that the accused had been following a course which frequently brought him into conflict with authority. He badly needed a course of discipline. The Magistrate told Goodhew that his conduct was not much different from that of Hills, although he was a first offender. His recent conduct had not been satisfactory. For unlawful conversion Goodhew was fined £2O and ordered to come up for sentence if called on within two years. He was also ordered to make restitution of £ll 10s as directed by the probation officer. PROBATION FOR THEFT

Two youths, whose names were ordered not to be published, were each admitted to probation for two years for theft. Each was ordered to live and work where directed by the Probation Officer.’

THEFT FROM EMPLOYER Walter Hanlin, aged 32, an accountant (Mr J. B. Weir), pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing from his employer, George Pizzey and Son (N.Z.), Ltd., the sum of £640 Is between August 1, 1956, and March 13, 1957.

Senior-Detective G. C. Urquhart said that the accused had been employed as an accountant with the firm in May, 1956, and with an associate signed cheques. A report had been received that wages tax had not been paid by the firm, and when inspectors examined the firm’s books the accused admitted that there had been some defalcations in payments of wages tax. Cheques which had been signed by both men had been retained by him. To detectives he had admitted the thefts of money, most of which went to the payment of arrears of maintenance. He was not in a position to make any restitution.

Hanlin was remanded to May 2 for a probation officer’s report and sentence. PRISON FOR THEFT Henry Ernest Williamson, charged with stealing an overcoat valued at £lO on March 11, and another overcoat valued at £5, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. CIVIL CASES (Before Mr L. N. Ritchie, S.M.) JUDGMENT FOR PLAINTIFF The New Zealand Farmers’ Cooperative Association of Canterbury, Ltd. (Mr S. H. Wood), was given judgment against E. A. Clydesdale for £8 16s 3d, claimed as the balance owing for goods. W. J. Scott’s Motors, Ltd. (Mr R. B. Shand), was given judgment against T. W. Reiter, a clerk, for £3, claimed as the amount of a cheque not met. ORDER FOR POSSESSION Charles Partington, a farmer (Mr D. H. Godfrey), claimed from John Donald Stuart Baird, a driver, possession of a property at 4 Ranger street. An order was made for possession forthwith, and the plaintiff was given judgment for £33.

JUDGMENT SUMMONSES On judgment summonses, the following orders were made: J. T. Harpur to pay Ambell Order Company, Ltd., £ll 9s forthwith, in default 11 days’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £1 a week; William Henry Hunt to pay the Commissioner of Inland Revenue £32 Is lid forthwith, in default 32 days’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £2 a week; F. W. Kingsford to pay R. W. Edgley £65 5s lOd forthwith, in default 60 days’ imprisonment; A. M. Wilson to pay A. G. Holder, Ltd-, £32 9s forthwith, in default 32 days’ imprisonment; Rex Andrews to pay K. E. Caesar £l7 forthwith, in default 17 days’ imprisonment; C. M. Davies to pay A. J. Thomson £3l 3s 5d forthwith, in default 31 days’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £1 a week; R. H. Ripley to pay Spicer’s Home Appliance Centre, Ltd., £22 13s forthwith, in default 22 days’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays' £1 a week; Daniel William Charles Everest to pay the Commissioner of Inland Revenue .£l5 17s 6d forthwith, in default 15 days’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £2 a week; Maurice Huon Goodmanson to pay the Commissioner of Inland Revenue £63 15s forthwith, in default two months’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £2 a week; Lindsay Dando to pay the Commissioner of Inland Revenue £79 14s lOd forthwith, in default two months’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £1 a week; Lindsay Dando to pay the Commissioner of Inland Revenue* £62 2s forthwith, in default two months’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £1 a week; Raymond Thomas McKay to pay South Island Finance Corporation £96 forthwith, in default two months’ imprisonment, the warrant to be suspended as long as defendant pays £3 a week; H. Birdling to pay A. S. McGregor £7 6s Id forthwith, in default seven days imprisonment; P. G. Maurice to pay J. Windsor £199 forthwith, in default, three months’ imprisonment.