COURT NEWS

Grey River Argus, 28 May 1938, Page 9

COURT NEWS

> PRISONERS SENTENCED, NINE IN WELLINGTON. [Per Press Association.! WELLINGTON, May 27. The following prisoners were sentenced by Judge Quilliam:— Leonard Royce Ford, 25. labourer; Lyall Reginald Thornton, ::0, motordriver; and William Clifford Symons, 22 labourer, breaking and entering a golf house at Masterton, three years’ probation, and ordered to take out prohibition order. Mervyn Milton Monaghan, 18, labourer, breaking end entering, two years at Borstal. Frank Paul Gestro, 19, labourer, breaking and entering, two years at Borstal.

Douglas Alexander Biddis, 17, messenger; Stewart McKenzie Gestro, 17, labourer, both placed under control of the Child Welfare Department for breaking and entering. George Walter Roche, 3G, salesman, breaking and entering with intent to commit crime, attempted false pretences, breaking, entering, and theft (two charges), false pretences (Iwo charges) and attempted Iheit, three years’ hard labour. Trevor Jim Garner, 22, tailor’s cutter, false pretences, two years’ probation. Divorce Competition AUCKLAND, May 27. “There is great competition 1o be divorced, among some people,’’ remarked Mr Justice Callan, in the Supreme Court, during the hearing of forty petitions in divorce. “You are not going to tell me that you watched the house from midnight until eight o’clock?” Mr Justice Cailan asked Donald Gordon Mackie, who sought a divorce on the ground ot adultery.

“Yes,” replied petitioner, who in evidence had stated that lie and two others watched the house, and saw the co-respondent come out after 8 a.m. “You have earned your divorce,” commented the Judge, in granting a decree nisi. £2022 FOR WIDOW. WELLINGTON, May 26. General damages of £2OOO and £22 5s 6d special damages were awarded by the jury in the Supreme Court today to Mrs Annie May Morris, whose husband, Edward Terence Morris, a tramway employee, was killed In a motor accident at Thorndon on January 10. The defendant was Guv Lowe, a fruiterer, of Petone. The case, which began on Wednesday, was heard by Mr Justice Quilliam and a jury of 12. The claim was for £3500 general and £22 5s 6d special damages. A lime limit of 14 days was granted in which to move for a new trial, a non-suit, or judgment for) •the defendant. j BIGAMY ADMITTED. AUCKLAND, May 26. A plea of guilty to a charge of bigamy was entered in the Magistrate's j Court by Robert Million, aged 38, a' miner. | In a signed statement ho said ho was married in, England in 1922. With i his wife and four children he came | to New Zealand in 1929, and resided > at Huntly. Trouble arose between , him and his wife, and they separated.' Later he went through a ceremony of, marriage at Auckland. Million was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. FORGERY AND THEFT. CHRISTCHURCH, May 26. The forging of receipts and of a Post Office Savings Bank pass book, the theft of £25, and fraud were the subject of 12 charges preferred against Lawrence Albert Sievers, a farmer, aged 26, in the Magistrate’s Court to-day. Sievers pleaded guilty to the charges and was committed tn the Supreme Court for sentence by Mr E. S. Levvey, S.M. DAIRY FACTORY HOURS. A TEST CASE. NEW PLYMOUTH, May 26. A matter of great importance to the dairy industry of the Dominion.

and one having far-reaching effects i f | a magisterial .judgment at New Plymouth is upheld, came before lho| Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) in, the Supreme Court this morning, and was referred to the Full Court of Appeal for argument in Wellington next month. The case was an appeal by Percy Smith, manager of the Waitoitoi Dairy Factory, against the judgment of Mr W. H. Woodward, S.M., at New Plymouth, in convicting him of a breach of the Factories Act Amend-] ment, 1936, by employing a worker', on seven days a week instead of six,! between August 11 and September 29,; 1937. _ I When the appeal was mentioned this morning, his Honour asked the parties to consider whether the case was of sufficient importance to refer to the Full Court. j Mr J. F. B. Stevenson (Wellington)] said the decision affected al! companies; but particularly some 60 factor- 1 ies, which, if the judgment were sustained, would be involved in an additional payment of £25,000 a year, and the method of working would have to be reorganised. Mr R. H. Quiliam, representing the respondent, agreed on the importance -'f the rase: ami it was accordingly referred to the Full Court.