MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 June 1943, Page 2

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

TO-DAY’S GREYMOUTH CASES

Mr. G. G. Chisholm, S.M., presided at a sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Greymouth, this morning. Sergeant R. C. ‘Mcßobie represented the police. Leonard Gustav Gillman, Norman Ernest Gillman, Stanley William Gillman, Frank Holling, William Johnston Ross and Henry William Shrives were charged with failing to attend Home Guard parades. Mr. W. D. Taylor represented defendants and pleaded guilty. , A , Sergeant Mcßobie stated that defendants were members of the Reefton Battalion of the Home Guard with their training centre at Ngahere. They had failed to attend the last five weekly parades but some had never attended parades. The prosecutions were taken as a warning, and the authorities did not press for a heavy penalty. They were the first cases of their kind in the district. Mr. Taylor said that all were employed in the sawmilling industry and all worked six days a week. They had only Sunday to do the chores round their own homes, especially in the Winter months. Negotiations were at present in progress with the Government regarding possible exemption for men working in the industry. • , x 7. The Magistrate said it might t? that there was hardship on the defendants. They would be convicted, but the question of penalty would be adjourned until August 9, in view of the statement regarding the representations for exemption. Eric Wilfred Crumpton, of Otira, was charged with procuring a .303 rifle from Cecil Robert Milne, _ ci Greymouth, without a permit. Milne was charged with delivering a firearm, a .303 rifle, to Crumpton, a person who did not have a permit. Crumpton pleaded not guilty. Constable A. C. Osborne, of Otira, stated that he interviewed defendant, and he read a statement which defendant made regarding the rifle. In the course of the statement defendant said that he borrowed the rifle from Milne on April 17, with the intention of trying it out on the next day, and with a view to purchasing it. He returned it on the Monday. He admitted that he did not have a permit for that rifle. He had a permit for his own firearm. Crumpton admitted that the .statement attributed to him was correct. He was convicted and ordered to pay costs 10/-. Milne was dealt with similarly. a Crumpton, with George Allan Miller and Edwin George Cogger, was charged with travelling through the. Arthur’s Pass National Park, carrying a firearm without a permit. Crumpton and Cogger pleaded guilty, but said that they were unaware of the regulations. Miller did not appear but forwarded a letter to the Court admitting the circumstances, but also stating that he did not know of the necessity for a permit. Conrad Hodgkinson, a Ranger employed by the Arthur’s Pass National Board, said that the Board’s by-laws required that persons had to secure a permit to carry a firearm through the Park. On April 18, the defendants came to the hut on Kelly’s Range, all carrying firearms. They did not have permits to carry the firearms. The hut was in the reserve. He knew Crumpton and Miller well and had previously asked them to secure permits to carry firearms in the reserve. Crumpton had taken out a three or six months’ permit five years ago. Crumpton maintained that no one in Otira knew of the necessity for a permit. The Sergeant said that the prosecutions were brought more for publicity purposes than for any other reason. To the Magistrate, the Ranger said that the by-laws were posted up m the huts on the reserve. The men had to pass through the Park to get outside. They shot outside the Park, but had also shot inside. The Magistrate said it was obvious that the offences had been committed, and that Crumpton, and probably Miller, knew about the necessity for a permit. Crumpton and Miller would be convicted and fined 10/with 10/- costs, and Cogger, who was a stranger to the Otira district, would be convicted and ordered to pay costs, 12/-. . .. ,

Thomas Lalor was charged that on May 26, being the driver of a horsedrawn vehicle in Herbert Street, he did fail to keep on the left-hand side of the road when meeting another \-ehicle. Defendant did not appear. Evidence was given by Constable C. L. Scanlon that defendant came out of Lombard Street on his wrong side and continued down Herbert Street. Defendant seemed to be under the impression that because he was delivering meat from house to house he was permitted to drive on the wrong side. Defendant was convicted and fined 10/- with 10/- costs. Brian Raymond Casey pleaded guilty to failing to pay the May, August and November instalments of the Social Security levy within a month of the due dates.

Mr. W. Richmond, for the Social Security Department, stated that defendant had actually paid the levies, but had not paid them within the stated period. He had ignored demands for payment of the penalty fees imposed. Those penalties amounted to 5/- on March 26.

Defendant stated that the penalties were now paid. He was convicted and fined £l, with 10/- costs.

Frederick Alexander Warren was convicted and fined £l, with 10 costs and 3/- witness’s expenses for allowing three head of cattle to wander in Cambridge Street, Brunner, on May 13. A second charge of allowing three head of cattle to wander in County Road, Taylorville, on May 24, was dismissed. Warren stated that the three head of cattle in the second case were not his. He had been informed that there were three heal of cattle wandering and had a look at them. They were not his and were still wandering.