CRICKET IN STREET

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1939, Page 6

CRICKET IN STREET

AND RETRIBUTION

ASSAULT CHARGE DISMISSED

A small fcoy's injunction of "shut your mouth" to a householder in Roy [ Street, Newtown, who had told him not to play cricket in the street, led to his receiving what was described in the Magistrate's Court yesterday as a "clip on the ear." The clipper was George Gee, a Corporation employee, and he was charged with assaulting Edward Joseph Lord, aged nine. Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., dismissed the charge as trivial, and remarked on the restraint that had been shown by the defendant. The boy admitted in his evidence that he and other boys had been told frequently not to play cricket in that street; they had gone into houses to get balls and some windows had been broken. i The Magistrate: Why did you say, "Shut your mouth," Teddy?— Because he told us not to play cricket. Do you feel very sorry now for saying "Shut your mouth" to a grownup man? —Yes, sir. ' To Mr. W. G. Mellish, who appeared for the defendant, the boy said that Mr. Gee had told him many time; not to play cricket in the street. Mr. Mellish: You have told Mrs. Gee to go. in and shut her mouth? —Yes. The Magistrate: You got only one smack? —I don't know. The Magistrate: I think you deserved more than one. The defendant,, in the witness-box, said a telegraph pole outside his house was used as a wicket. Gardens had been ruined and a window further up the street broken. He had told the boys many times to go to Newtown Park, which adjoined Lord's home, but both he and his wife had been told to shut their mouths and mind their own business. The Magistrate: You only hit him once? —Yes. The Magistrate: I think you were very restrained. I will exercise the powers invested in me and dismiss the case as trivial. Fortunately—or unfortunately in this case—the law does not allow anyone to use force as a way of correction, so technically you have committed an .offence.