MIDNIGHT VISITOR

Evening Star, Issue 19328, 14 August 1926, Page 10

MIDNIGHT VISITOR

IH SEARCH OF " EXPERIENCE " HE GETS IT. Those who possess an insatiable thirst for knowledge are usually, in a progressive community, given encouragement. This was not tho caso with Ernest Stanislaus Mahoney, who, coming recently from tho “ free and easy ’’ West Coast, found himself up against stricter regulations in Dunedin, and was this morning lined 40s, .in default seven days’, imprisonment, on a charge of having been found by night without lawful excuse in the railway engine sheds in circumstances which did not disclose the commission nor any intent to commit an offence.

As the magistrate (Mr Bartholomew) remarked, it was a curious caso. Mahoney, who is employed as a fitter at tho Hillside Workshops, desired (so ho asserted) to gain “ experience ” by examining a certain part of an engine, and made a call at tho railway engine sheds, where it was assembled. • However, he chose an unusual hour for his call, to wit midnight, and tho foreman at tho cleaning sheds, finding Mahoney on tho top of ono of tho engines “tinkering with a throttle,” indicated that the visitor was not welcome. But Mahoney, used to tho freer West Coast hospitality, did not take ,tho hint, with the result that—as he described the incident—“ tho first thing ho knew he was under arrest.” ■ Accused,denied that he Was under the influence of liquor, and the evidence supported this, though some witnesses had detected a suspicious smell about him. Accused also declared that ho had previously visited tho sheds without being questioned, but the foreman (William Jas. M'Lcan) denied this. This witness stated that Mahoney was a first-class workman. Tho Magistrate said it was certainly a curious case, but he found it difficult to believe that a mere thirst for knowledge had taken accused to tho sheds. He was afraid that drink had had sometiling to do with it. It was a stupid, blundering act. maybe, but he must recognise the situation in which accused was found—a situation in which no unauthorised person should ho found. Accused would be fined 40s, in default seven days’ imprisonment.