MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 227, 19 June 1920, Page 3

MAGISTRATE'S COURT

■ ''" POLICE OASES. i Mr E.. Page,. S.M., dealt with tlio polioe c»scs -at the Magistrate's Court yesterday. ' : ' - A licensed taxi-driver named Leonard Mackay was fined £4 and costs for being drunk wbilo in charge of a motor-car In Thorndon Quay. Convicted of insobriety for the seventh time within a poriod af six months, James Kobortson was. fined £3, with the option of seven days' - imprisonment. On a ohargo of committing a breach of his prohibition order ,hq waa convicted and discharged. ........ - Mr. 0. B. i O'Donnell appeared for F. Clark, a young man. who pleaded guilty to stealing, from Kilbirnio Part one axe, ono garden trowel, and two Backs, valued at 12b. 6d., the property of the City Council. It was stated that the accused had hitherto borne a good character, and that this was his first offence. Clark was fined £5, in default 21 days lmpris•Charles Eric Walden, for whom Mr. W. 0. Mellish appeared, was charged with assaulting a young woman so as to cause her actual bodily harm. On the application of Bub-Inspector Emerson a remand ■for a week was granted. Mr. Hellish applied for bail, but thiß was refused in the meantime. , _. Mr J. Scott appeared for Walter Edward Cook, who was charged with the theft at Featherston of £2 lis. 9d„ the property of the Government. DetectiveSergeant Lewis, in asking for a remand until Thursday noxt, stated that it was probable that other charges, involving a sura of £177. would he preferred against the accused. The remand, asked for was grunted, and bail was allowed in £M and one surety of. £150. Accused, it """tated.. was employed, by tho Ordnanee Department as an accountant. Thomas Francis Fisher and Walter Sidney Troke, firemen on the s.s. Port Hacking, were charged with deserting from that -vessel. The men stated that tney had been threatened m the focsle. and that thev were not prepared to rejoin tho vos'el unless the conditions were altered. Thev were each fined £5 and costs. For. committing a breach of his prohibition order,' Phillip H. W. Ogier was fined 20s. and costs. • William George Clark was fined 20s. and costs for being the owner of a dog which attacked a boy named Frank Kllitnllv in Taranaki Street. The dog was let oil the chain for a rim and got away Into the street. The boy was not hurt to any extent. . A remand for a week was granted in the case of Arthur Oldham, who was charged with assaulting Anna Caroline Oldham. The defendant was m Court, but he had to be removed because he was not in a fit condition to appear before the Magistrate. Albert George Bennett, a youth W r«f" of ago. went to the premises of tho Croauct Club at the ton of Mein Street, where some Uttle boys were Maying football. He tried to get into tho pavilion, which is the property of the City Council, and later put his foot through a window. The damage to tho window was estimated at 45b. Three littlo boys who were present on the occasion, gave evidence, Ino Magistrate, observing that it 7™ <V„£ liberate act of mischief, fined Bennett £4. and ordered him to refund the damage and also to pay tho costs. Henry Webster, picture dealer, of IN Manners Street, was called won to show cause, why a picture entitled The Sorceress" should not, be destroyed as an indecent puliation. petcctive-Sergeant Scott stated that to Picture wa.exhibited in the window of defendants shop, though not in a conspicuous place. Defendant had stated that tho picture wob a copy of.a work of art, such as all picture dealers doalt in. It was part of his stock-in-trade, and was obtained in the usual way. The detective stated that he kept a watch on tho window. On one occasion he saw five persons looking at tho picture, but ho did not Hear any adverse comment, He 'couid not sa\ that the plctuja had a detrimental effect morally, but it was a question whether ii .should be shown in the window. The Magistrate did not think that the mere representation of a nude figure, unless there were other ob.imtlonablo lexIhms. was necessarily indecent. He could not sco his way to declare the picture in Question an. indecent, one, and therefore, he could not order Us destruction. His Worship ordered tho picture to be returned. , , . ' Two Territorial named T. Crawley and (ID Ford, for failing to attend drill, were each fined 40a. and costs 7s. Bobert Nicol and Cecil Harris, for whom Mr W. Perrv appeared, wore charged with having, on April 20. at Ngnlo. behaved oflensiv-T; in a railway carrlaßO. It appeared from the evidence that Ihe bids bad been offensive to an elderly_ man. who had made repeatedl complaints to the Hallway Department. The JfiieWrote ecorded a conviction, administered a severe reprimand, and ordered the lads to pay the costs of the prosecution (295.).