‘WHAT A FARCE!’ IS COMMENT OF MAGISTRATE

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 August 1949, Page 4

‘WHAT A FARCE!’ IS COMMENT OF MAGISTRATE

WELLINGTON, This Day, (P.A.). —“What a ■ farce! Who gave it to you?” asked Mr A. A. McLachlan, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court today when an accused said in evidence that he had previously faced a charge of ship desertion and had been granted probation. The accused: I do not know. The Magistrate: I suppose I did. The case was one in which Gerald Healey, aged 22, a seaman, and Robert Foster Chilvers, aged 18, a labourer and seaman, were charged with assaulting a waitress in a Wellington milk bar. The complainant said she had refused to serve the two accused because they were “too drunk” and that milk and coffee had then been thrown over her.

When Chilvers was giving evidence, it was mentioned that he had previously faced a charge of ship desertion and had been granted probation.

“This, unfortunately, is rather typical of a number of deserters to which the court, in the hope of making decent citizens, gives probation,” commented the Magistrate, adding: “A nice pickle these deserters put the country in.” The accused were each fined £5.

Woman Dies From injuries A woman who was knocked down by a motor-car in Remuera road, Auckland, on Thursday evening, died in the Middlemore Hospital yesterday. She was Miss Ann Teresa Neha, aged 21, an employee at King’s School, Remuera. The injured woman was admitted to hospital suffering from a compound fracture of the legs and a possible fractured spine. —(P.A.)