MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Grey River Argus, 15 August 1944, Page 3

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

FIRMS FINED A number of charges arising out of a visit by Inspectors of the rnee Tribunal to the district were heard bv Mr. G. G. Chisholm S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Greymouth, yesterday morning, as a result or which defendants between them wilt pay over £25. «r -n Reginald Norman May (Mr. W. L). Taylor) pleaded guilty to a charge that on May 5, 1944 at Kumara he did sell 2 lbs. of creamery butter for 3/2d. not in conformity with the maximum price of Is 61d. fixed by the price order; and to a further charge that he did sell a packet of candles at Is. 6d. instead of Is. 5AtMr. F. A. Kitchingham, who appeared for the Tribunal, pointing out the difference in the prices, said that the Tribunal had warned defendant about over charging in some instances. ‘‘This prosecution is a particularly bloodless victory for the Price Tribunal,” commented Mr. Taylor. “The amount over charged in each case was only id. and in order to get their evidence, officers of the Tribunal went through hundreds of orders for hundreds of lines, and they were able to discover only two items of overcharging to the extent of a id. One might have thought that some discretion would have been used in lodging prosecutions. Both the butter and the candles had been delivered some miles away from the shop.” “The amount overcharged is very small,” said the Magistrate, “but if id is charged on every lb. of butter it is important and would soon amount to a large sum. Both of these items are small, but I must take into consideration the fact that defendant had been warned. He will be convicted and fined £l, with 10s costs and £1 Is solicitor’s fee, on each charge.” W. H. Boucher Ltd. (Mr. Taylor) pleaded guilty to charges that on May 11, they did sell .one tin of black nugget polish at Bd. instead of the maximum price fixed, 7id.; and they did offer for sale Jonathan apples for sd. lb., instead of 4d. lb. Mr. Kitchingham said that though only a id. had been overcharged on the polish, the excess amount in respect to the apples was Id. Mr. Taylor said that in this case also officers had gone through books covering several hundred separate lines to discover the id. overcharge in connection with the polish. The apples had been in a box next to one containing pears which were for sale at sd. and the signs somehow had become mixed. There had been no previous warning in this case. “I cannot concede that it is correct to say that these are the only items on which an overcharge was found,” said Mr. Kitchingham. A conviction and a fine of £l, with 10s. costs and £1 Is. solicitor’s fee on each charge was entered in this case also.

Sam McAra Ltd., (Mr. Taylor) pleaded guilty ,to charges of selling one pair of half hose M 208, on May 9, at 4s 6d. when the price should have been 3s. lid; and on the same date selling one Roslyn L.W. shirt for 13s. 6d. instead of 12s.

Mr. Kitchingham said that this was one case where defendant had been warned on a previous occasion. He had overcharged Is 6d. on one garment and 7d. on the other. Because only two charges had been made against him that did not necessarily mean that they were the only instances in which overcharging had been found, added Mr. Kitchingham. Mr. Taylor said that on the day in question, McAra had not been present himself, and his assistant had sold the articles named in the charge. An error had been committed in overcharging. The socks had not been marked with any price and had been in stock a considerable time. When the inspector had asked what the socks were priced at, the girl in the shop made a guess, being 7d. over. A shortage of staff and the number of price .lists made conditions difficult. “This is different to the charges against the grocery firms,” commented the Magistrate, as he convicted defendant, imposing a fine of £1 10s, with 10s. costs and solicitor’s fee £1 Is on each charge. “Guilty but not satisfied,” was the plea of Percv Wah to two charges, that on May’ 8, he did offer for sale 1 lb., of swedes for 2d. when the maximum price under the price order was Id, and that he'did otter tor sale carrots for 3d. when their price should have been l"d. Mr. Kitchingham pointed out that the price charged for the swedes was an overcharge of 100 per cent., while that, charged for the carrots was approximating that figure. Defendant had been before the court previously on a similar charge, a long time ago. “One man was hiding outside the window, and sent a boy in .to get the swedes,” alleged defendant, who submitted that that was not the way to do things. “Do you suggest that if you had known that the men were inspectors you would have charged the correct price?” asked the Magistrate, who, pointing out that defendant had charged twice as much as he shouln have convicted and fined him £3 with 10s. costs, and £1 Is. solicitor s fee in each case. , Two further charges of selling at increased prices were adjourned until next week.

GAMING CHARGES Pleading guilty to a charge that on Saturday August 12, at Blackball, he did use premises on Main Koad, as a common gaming house, Leslie John Kinsella was convicted and fined £l5, with 10s. costs. . Detective-Sergeant H. E. Knight said that defendant was a married man, aged 38 years, with two chilnren. He was a news agent at Blackball where he had a shop. In consequence of a 1 complaint and prior knowledge, he secured a warrant and visited the shop. Defendant admitted the facts when approached. A total of thirty-eight bets had been found, totalling £l6, being only small amounts. Nothing had previously been known about him, and though he had been carrying on bookmaking for some time, it was only in a small way. Defendant had nothin- to say.