POLICE COURT

Evening Star, Issue 21169, 1 August 1932, Page 1

POLICE COURT

MONDAY, AUGUST 1. (Before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M.)' DRUNKENNESS. A first offender was fined £l, in do* fault twenty-four hours’ imprisonment* UNLICENSED. DRIVER; George Charles Frederick Sydney# charged with driving without a license/ was fined 5s and costs. ADMITTED TO PROBATION. Arthur Douglas Brooks appeared fori sentence on a charge of failing to ac-j count for £2B 9s Id to the Australasian:! Temperance and General Assurance* Company, thereby committing theft. After perusing the probation officer’s* report, the Magistrate said the reportJ showed a very unsatisfactory state cM affairs. The accused had been gambling | for a considerable time, and the present J defalcations were not the only ones*! However, he was allowed to retain his j position, but when he was before the i court His Worship was by no means j sure that the accused appreciated thoj gravity of the charge, and that view was t borne out by tlie statement of the t probation officer. However, the accused i was a married man with two young chi I-j dren, and through the death of hisj .parents .while he was. still young he hadi lacked control at a critical period of his, life. The accused was admitted to pro-; bation for two years, stringent conditions regarding gambling being made. MILK VENDORS FINED. Decision was given in the case hi which Mowat Brothers were charged with selling milk and cream obtained from other than a registered dairy. After reviewing the facts of the case, the Magistrate said it was not suggested that the milk obtained was impure or not fit for human consumption. Ho had to consider whether defendants had discharged the onus cast on them by regulation, of proving that the milk was not sold, but, considering all the circumstances, he did not think the defendants had reasonably discharged that! onus. It was peculiar, said His Worship, that legislation should bo enacted by regulation in that matter, rather than by specific provision in the Act,, which surely would have been quite simple. However, the matter was done bv Regulation, and regulation of a very, drastic nature, which threw the onus cm to the defendant instead of on to the prosecution. That seemed_ some-, what unreasonable, but considering tho. clauses of the Act, and the power given to make regulations, the regulations were not beyond the powers of the Gov-ernor-General in Council to make. Tlio defendants would be fined £3 and costs. , MAINTENANCE. William George Cleaver applied for. a variation of a maintenance order in 1 respect to a sou. After hearing the evidence the magistrate remitted the arrears over £5 (£5) and ordered tha applicant -to pay an extra 2s 6cl per week until, the arrears are settled.

TWO MONTHS’ IMPRISONMENT.. ■ Further evidence was heard in the( case in which Albert Robert Wilcoxson was charged with being a rogne and vagabond, in that he was found by, night . on ' the premises of William Butcher in Macandrew road. The defendant, in evidence, said that he came home about 9.30 p.m. and went straight to bed. Ho was nowhere near Mr Butcher’s premises that night. After hearing the evidence His Worship said that the charge should have been one of attempting to steal coal to the value of Is. Counsel agreed that this should hava been done in the first place. The charge was amended accordingly.! The Sub-inspector detailed the defendant’s record, and described him as “ an absolute waster.” Wilcoxson was convicted and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment.