THE COURTS-TO-DAY

Evening Star, Issue 16677, 8 March 1918, Page 4

THE COURTS-TO-DAY

CITY POLICE COURT. (Before J. R. Bartholomew. Esq., 55. Md D it, nkci m css. — Th nin a s Hasti ncs wa.? fined 10s. or 48 hours. An Opium Trader.—Chung Lee was charged with being found in' Hie possession of opi uin in a form .suitable for smoking He pleaded guilty.—Sub-inspector (Mathieson said that accused was a systematic trader in opium. Die was a nonsmoker himself. He had the scales used for weighing' out opium, and also other appliance.?. There would be about 250 smokes in the quantity of opium found in his possession.—Accused said he used tho opium for rheumatic.?. He mixed it with water, and rubbed it on his leg. —His Worship ; It is too valuable for that purpose. I am afraid. The quantity found and the appliance,? support the contention of the police that accused is trafficking in opium.—He was fined £25 and costs (10s fid). A Cowardly Assault.—Joseph Robinson w,ns charged with assaulting his wife. Lena Caroline Robinson. Ho pleaded guiltv.— Tile Sub-inspector said that tbo parties seemed to have had some domestic trouble. Accused went harvesting, and tho wife put her small children into an orphanage while she went to work. Rhevgot employment in a tea room. Accused, on returning to town, made search for her. and found her at work. Without any provocation he struck her severely with Ins clenched fist, cutting her lip, which had to be stitched at the Hospital. As, far as the police knew.''the wife was a respectable, hard-working woman.—His Worship characterised it as a cowardly assault, and F.Titenced accused to two months' imprisonment. Dismi«?cd.—John Barnes was charge 1 with driving a, motor car on the Queen's Drive, Musselburgh, at a speed dangerous to the public. Mr Irwin defended.—After evidence, His Worship said if was not a ca?c where tho defendant had been scorching. Considering the road, and the traffic on it. a speed of about 20 miles an hour, he did not think, could be held to be unreasonable. Tho question was whether the speed was 27 miles an hour, as the police had shid. There* was rather a weakness about liicir evidence. The constable timed Hie car passing at a certain point. At the place where he timed the starting point- ho was directly opposite the car, and then he judged it reached a measured distance of a quarter of a mile, whore it made a turn. The point where the car made the turn was more or less indefinite. The constable was not in a position to prove at what point it turned. In view of the evidence given, he was not satisfied that the car was driven at a dangerous rate of speed. The case would be dismissed.