A DAY IN A SYDNEY POLICE COURT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 91, 10 January 1908, Page 11

A DAY IN A SYDNEY POLICE COURT.

(FROM OUR SYDNEY CORRESPONDENT.) it was not a ■particularly'small room, nor ■p particularly old room; yet it was cramped and musty,! and smelt as if tho walls and floors woro saturated with the effluvia of tho dr'ogs of : humanity that ■ daily gathered 'within it, unwashed and unkempt. ' High above' all sat a magistrate, whose nanio, /'• singularly'enough was Love. Apart front his 'official trappings, one could imagine,liiiri a rcspcctable' 1 and worthy: citizen, but !-enf sboncMPin' high-sidedchair, with'a; hugf' • Jden canopy ovor him, lie , lookpd '-liko owl '.in -a 'glorified ■ bedstead. -' . ,-... j .13olow : h' sat the clerk, tapping out the records :f);.i/";e cases oil a typewriter, over to .' tho - ?^;, .'.as tho witness-box, far below werere-.f :l' r '.sergeants !and- solicitors, and . ropol'tor.' l ' '.j again :i;;less, helpless offenders crowded into two msc-bo'xesj'v-flanlced by a small . standing' fyace for such observers as wished 'J. td' ( view, ; t!. motley sordid scene; and,.'over all brQbd©;,;.^he 'pwl-'of .jiistice. : " Running T rough the List. /The mo/' .'5 operandi of dealing with, most '. of the off 'dors was simplicity'itself. They .-.were iiito the loose-boxes, tho clerk called *»:•«• mail's "naino, he - rose, . the . / sergeant fitted his f offence,' tho owl .pronounced rifle'' sentence, ' tho clerk, took it . down, at J She man. was escorted out of the court; rc m Could' anything be more simple , —or saiisit tory? >' Ask tho owl : and the clork and,,.o sergeant, and, with one voice, they will :* ' lswcr,, "No, "shy nothing." No ' need to consult ''the ■ offender—' when such unanimity prevailed. : , .No. interest'attached , to i thbse ,charged ; with. drunkenness on : the day of my visit-, more than attaches.; at': alltimes-to bottom dogs'of ev'.-y descriptibn. « For the most - ' relinquished this one of their many a/ ..i i-jto the. management of the court ' -tho passive-non-resistance bom of: long "experience. -Theoretically, they might objet.;, but»practically they admitted the futility of -kicking 'against tho pricks. Now and again a netv'chtiiii might bo heard raising :his-voidfe' in willul :prqtest, donying his. master Bacchus. To- sucli, the sergeants, ' were not actively, hostile, the, owl looked' . borAd, everybody else' was annoyed at the ■ im unnecessary ,delay.- ■■.The. sontehce;-was. prpnounced as usual. i-... - - -Jhe Women Offenders. Infinitely moro sad, and perhaps even moro soriiid; was the appeiiran'ce*"of. the docks, wJjeni.tbey wQro filled ..by , the .'.women offenders'.' ' How far .sicry 'from these to the •\ Sistine Madorina'l.J There Weror battered and besotted Women, with dusty wisps of hair twisted.,into a hard .knot oil thoir. grimy - necks,; and- fair-haired sisters of - ill famo, '- with : thickf-plaits hanging loosely down their backs.- A woman's crowning glory is her bail'; and, irrelevant though the'thought ; was, it' seemed as if in, these cases beauty : "of hair, : added to the shame. And so, each woman's name was called by it. man®, ;she ;■ was charged by . another man 'for being 'drunk,: disorderly, obscene—sometimes--even her.filthy language-was quoted,;a third man pronpurifced'|senten6e oil guilt,:and a fourth. eseorted hei'.'. put'-t'o: the . prison; li o us&, r bl atrtnt.' 1 unashamed.''Sonie'r' times', a.Mission : Sister''begged leave, to''cate . for the try. to rescue her;, but the .Windorer,.oftep'turned coldly away, prc- . .ferring -tho prison house. Was the fault of / a seemingly so preposterous choice always Ith the wanderer ? - , <Chinese in Court. , , Passing over ohargdS of petty thieving ..nd suitlike offences, caffie one of. gambling <roforra3[ against 29 Chineso. They appeared . „ remancljT-th'e on . tno iiiformation of 'Wo of 'tlieir number. 1 An adjournment' was , asked for by a ■ solicitor representing somo of the men, but the Counsel for the Crown - refused to .agree to this__until ; he, had taken the sworn'.testimony as to the'commission of the offejice! 3 He hadf he said, "against' his betterv judgment, agreed ',the previous "week to now one : of 'his tWo witnesses had' Been spirited.away 'and no'°6ne Was :.to be; found. If, he agreed "to< an adjournment the other witness njight; alsp.be conveniently removed, and his whole ...case, .would then fall to the ground.. I looked at the semi-circle of two or tlireo score of. Orientals lined up before the dock, and then,at the 'numerous sinister gleaming heads-'of,-friends and followers, with their, twisted-': plaits' of Hviry black , hair and their impenetrable countenances' crowded 'together at tho..back of tho Court, and, I thought it not at. all unlikely—nay, humanly certain— that the- informer .would- be ; " conveniently romoved-,-.The accuser, however, seemed little concerned,, although there .was thatin' tho oiilm .level-,contemplation, he .was . accorded by-those-ho accused .which indicated his-fate "dearer .than words. Without haste and w.ithoutr rest Nemesis would,pursue him. -Perhaps he;realised this, perhaps he'did not; 1 no white, nian can. penetrate the calm iniper- *■ - ''liability of the Oriental. ' Quietly and ; Svowly, k .m-.Chineso, he.'related the occurrences,' v"^?'-- s^ a t e( r how the- articles seized were the playing 'of "fantan"; state'd nltich money had changed hands, and'in what .amounts, and his; words,, of, accusation C , L were translated jnto English .and, taken down u. bv .the Clerk of the Court.All. the men in -i- liGnsii.had been arrested, and tho witness to point out those ho recognised ,-fts playing; at fan tan in-the room with him. rou ? d calmly Trith tho Cbunsel for . 3 the vro.irD, .and pointed the accusing finger at - ■ nine or ten of his fellow-countrymen f r/v was perfectly, indifferent and iml theirs.. What were thoir Ao, man knowcth. • /