A DISTRESSING AFFAIR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 257, 23 July 1908, Page 6

A DISTRESSING AFFAIR.

(BT TELEGEAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.) . ( Auckland, July 22. At 'tho Police Court this afternoon befork Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M., a young woman named Eveline Senna was charged with steal •ing'a bell, valued at 2s. 6d., from the shoj of Miss Billington, on Juno 27 last, and also a blouse length valued at 7s. 6d., tho property of Charles Histcd. The evidenco for the prosecution showed that on June 27 last tho accused went into Miss Billington's shop in Ponsonby Road and asked- to bo shown ti hat. ' On leaving tho' shop, she put liei hand on a table and took something which tho complainant was unable to distinguish. Miss Billington then called her father who went in pursuit of the girl, and on reaching her she threw down a small bell, and ran away. While being pursued, the accused slipped and, fell, and Mr. Billington noticed a blouse length fall from her- cloak. This material was identified by ! Mr. Histed as his property, which ho had been showing to the accused in his shop. Mr. Skelton said tho facts wero admitted, but ho urged that recent family troubles had deranged the girl's mental balance, leadihg her' to an act which sho was quite unconscious of doing. Tho girl had borne an excellent character, and had been employed iiv tho one position for twclvo years. The girl was a great sufferer, her mental balance having been, attectod. Dr. King said that ho examined tho accused a couple of days after the alleged offences'.wero committed and - found her suffering from hysterical mania. Looking at the whole of the circumstances ho was of tho opinion that the girl had lost her mental balanco when sho took tho goods._ Mr. Kettlo said that from the evidence given by Dr. King ho was perfectly satisfied that tho accused had lost her mental balanco when sho took, the articles in question, and ho dismissed tho information. -

. A peculiar point arose, at tho Education Board meeting a.t New Plymouth yesterday out of -the annual meeting of householders to elect a School Committeo at. Uruti, in North Taranaki. Tho _ had been in charge of two commissioners in tho preceding year," and those two gentlemen, oil arriving at.tho school twenty-five minutes past tho appointed hour of seven o'clock, found five young men in the porch, who informed them that tho committee had already, been elected. It appears that this new • committee is composed of single' men, and that as tho teacher is a single girl it renders tho position awkward for nor. Tho commissioners asked tho Board to decide whether the election' was legal, and whether tho porch was tho school in the meaning of tho Act. Tho Board confirmed tho election of the committco. : o - Tho Mayor of Dunedin lias received a letter from tho Prime Minister regretting that ho cannot see his way to have'• tho .Dunedin Pipe Band sent to Auckland to tako part in the American fleet celebrations. While tho Racing Conference is in procress at the Chamber of Commerce, the local hon. secretary of the Navv League is .fat from enjoying himself, inasmuch as he it temporarily dispossessed of the use of hi office, , and at tho busiest timo of tho yea; for the; League. Tho distribution of sonK 2000 copies of tho League's annual report, together with tickets and programmes for Monday's entertainment, among 1500 juvenilo membors and 300 adults, is no light task, and Mr. Palmer is forced to the conchisioo that unless a permanent office can bo obtained for his use ho, will eventually be compelled to relinquish his honorary iduties. A, moro generous support of the League by the public is really accessary to'overcome' tlio difficulty.