IGNORED WARNING

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 104, 27 January 1931, Page 10

IGNORED WARNING

Intoxicated Driver

NOT A SERIOUS CASE Unusual circumstances resulted in Charles Henry Monk, aged 25, labourer, being fined £1 in the Police Court yesterday for being intoxicated in charge of a motor-car. It was stated by Sub-Inspector Lopdell that accused, his brother, and some women were motoring in from the country. Accused’s brother was apparently the driver of the car. The vehicle was left on the corner of Grey Street and Lambton Quay, the women remaining in the car while the men went away. Accused’s brother failing to t ..turn, the women asked accused to drive. He had been already noticed by'a constable, who observed his intoxicated condition. The constable saw accused starting the car, and told him he must not drive it, but accused backed the car about nine yards. He was consequently arrested.

Accused, from the dock, ■ admitted the circumstances, but denied that they amounted to his being in charge of the car.

Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M.,in in imposing the fine, held that accused had been in charge of the car. and would have been had he moved it only six feet. An intoxicated person should have nothing whatever to do with a car. However, the case was not serious. Constable Obstructed John Bertalino. aged 50. labourer, strenuously denied that he had aided two other men in obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty, but he was convicted, and fined 30/-. It was stated that on Saturday afternoon Constable Waple arrested a woman in Taranaki Street for drunkenness. The men, including accused, tried to stop the constable, and succeeded in dragging the woman into an alleyway. The constable transferred his attentions to accused, and arrested him. Joy-riding Young Men Frederick Owen March, aged 18, gardener and butcher, admitted a charge of attaching a wrong number to a motor-car in Dunedin. He was fined £1 and costs, and ordered to pay expenses £6/18/1 at the rate of 15/- a week. The sub-inspector said the car had not been dishonestly obtained. Accused had represented to the woman owner of the car that he was a prospective purchaser of the vehicle. He had been given permission to use the car, but not to go “gallivanting” round the country as he had done with a companion. He had attached to the vehicle a number-plate from another car. Licensing Cases' On the reserved judgment of Mr. T. B. McNeil, S.M., Frederick August Neilson, licensee of the Dominion Hotel, was ordered to pay costs only on a charge of selling liquor after hours. Reuben Wilson. for aiding and abetting in the commission of the offence, was similarly treated. Other charges were withdrawn. Charges Against Women Euphemia F. Crichton (Mr. Jackson) sometimes known as Euphemia Pauli, of 125 Constable Street, was charged with keeping a house of ill-repute. A charge of assisting in the management of the house was preferred against Wanda Kurowsky (Mr. Cresswell). Both cases were remanded until February 9. Trixie Bruce, who did not appear, was charged with assisting in the conduct of a house of ill-repute, kept by Laura Packer in Aro Street. Evidence was given by police witnesses of visits paid to the house, where- defendant had lived. She had failed to appear on a summons, and a warrant for her arrest had been issued, but no trace of her'could be found. _ The magistrate held there was sufficient evidence in the absence of defendant and inflicted a fine of £5.