MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29068, 3 December 1959, Page 27

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

£ | WEDNESDAY (Before Mr Raymond Ferner, SJM.) FINED FOR SMUGGLING For smuggling a transistor radio and 200 cigarettes, of a total value of £l3 from a ship berthed at Lyttelton on November 6 Kenneth McDonald Ingley (Mr G. W. Rountree) was £25. Mr Rountree entered a plea of guilty. On November 6 the defendant was seen by a policeman boarding a ship berthed at Lyttelton, said Mr P. F. Feenstra, who prosecuted for the Customs Department Later he left the ship with something under his overalls. The defendant was found in a Railway Department hut. In a statement to the police the defendant admitted purchasing a transistor radio for £l2 and 200 cigarettes for £1 on the ship. The minimum fine was £25 with a maximum fine of £lOO or three times the value of the goods. The defendant had made a complete disclosure of his actions as soon as he was approached by the police, Mr Rountree said. He had not tried to hide anything. Ingley had seen an advertisement in a national newspaper that transistor radios could be purchased in Samoa by mail without having to pay customs duty and he had acted on this information. FISHERMAN FINED A sack containing three trout with the necks broken was seen to be thrown from the boat of a commercial fisherman in the Selwyn river, said Mr A. D. Holland.

William Quigley, a commercial fisherman (Mr G. W. Rountree) was fined £l5 for killing fish in a closed season and £l5 for fishing otherwise than with a rod and a running line on September 10. Mr Rountree entered a plea of guilty to both charges. Mr Holland, who prosecuted for the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, said that a ranger saw the sack thrown from the defendant’s boat He made a search and found it contained three trout with their necks broken. There was fresh blood on the fish showing that they had only recently been killed.

“I have been instructed to ask that an example be made of the defendant and that the maximum penalty of £5O be imposed on each charge,” Mr Holland said. “There are 27 commercial fishermen on Lake Ellesmere, and though it is not suggested that they are all taking acclimatised fish, the society’s investigations show that there is considerable interference. It is a very hard offence to detect” The defendant had been a commercial fisherman at Lake Ellesmere for some time and these were the first charges he had ever faced, Mr Rountree said. He was pulling in his nets and found the three trout caught in them. He yielded to temptation and did not put them bank. To impose the maximum penalty for the first offence would be excessive. There was no suggestion that the defendant had indulged in this sort of thing before. “I think a distinction must be made between commercial fishermen who operate for profit and the amateur who makes no profit,” said the Magistrate when imposing the fine.

“DRUNKEN PRANK” “I am satisfied the offence was a drunken prank,” said the Magistrate when fining William MacKay Fell, aged 31, an able seaman in the Gothic, £lO on a charge of unlawfully interfering with a launch valued at £20,000 at Lyttelton on November 30. Fell had pleaded guilty and was appearing for sentence. The accused had gone back and helped the watchman tie up the launch, said Mr B. J. Drake, who appeared for the accused. He would be logged by the shipping company because of this offence. He asked that a fine be Imposed so that Fell could join his «hip. FACTORY NOT REGISTERED The offence of failing to register factories way occurring quite frequently and the prosecution had been brought to give the matter some publicity, said Mr G. D. Jensen, of the Department of Labour. A. Verkerk, Ltd., was fined £3 for occupying an unregistered factory at 132 Vagues road on October 14. The defendant company occupied a bacon-curing factory which was not registered when It was visited by an inspector, said Mr Jensen. Notices were sent to the company, but it was not until November 18 that the application was received, Mr Jensen asked that a suitable penalty be imposed to draw the attention of factory occupiers to their obligations. Before a factory was registered an inspection had to be made to see it complied with the regulations. He had no recollection of a previous similar prosecution. GIRL NOT SENT TO SCHOOL Elizabeth Hislop was fined £1 15s for failing to send her 14-year-old daughter to school. Mr J. G. Leggat, who prosecuted for the Canterbury Education Board, said the girl was registered at the Christchurch Technical College. Her lack of attendance had caused concern and notices had been served on her mother, but there was no improvement in the girl’s attendance. Out of 35 days the girl was absent on 18. The prosecution was taken because the actions of one child could influence others. No heed had been taken of the notices sent

SHOPS NOT CLOSED For failing to close their shops on Saturday when non-exempted goods were exposed for sale. Rosemarie Helen Williams and Murray Webb Nye were each fined £3.

REMANDED On a charge of unlawfully taking a bicycle valued at £5 on December 2, Joseph Gordon Barton, aged 19, an unemployed workman, was remanded to December 7 He was granted bail at £25 with one surety of £25, and was ordered to report daily to the police. Ronald Charles O’Connor, aged 31 (Mr G. S. Brockett), was remanded to December 16 on a charge of receiving stolen property. His bail was renewed. » Information Officer.—The British Government plans to station an information officer in Auckland next year. He will work under the direction of the High Commissioner and will answer inquiries about Britain and give help on such matters as technical education. —(P-A.)