RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT REEFTON.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 43, 18 July 1877, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT REEFTON.

Tuesday, July 17, 1877. [Before Edw^bd Shaw, Esq., E.M.] KEEPING A DfSOBDEULY HOUSE. Annie Brown appeared upon an information by 1 the police, charging her with keeping a disorderly house. Sergeant JNeville, who conducted the ' prosecution, said that the charge had been laid under common law, and was treated as a criminal offence.' He called the following* evidence :— Constable Jeffries — I have known the defendant for eleven or twelve years. She has been in Eeefton for six or seven months, living y^ a house at the lower end of Broadway. There have been frequent disturbances at her house, and on the 29th June my attention was particularly called to her house. Screams and cries of murder came from ifc, and I went over. I found the place in total darkness ) and on going inside found the defendant's little girl, a child of about eight or nine ■years of age, in the room. She said her mother was killed. Defendant and two men were lying drunk on floor. I had to strike a match when I went in. One of the men beoame very abusive and I took him to the lobk-up. Subsequently two men called at the police camp and reported that they had been robbed in de« fendant'a house, Complaints have been made on many occasions about the de<> fendanc. Qn one occasion I went to her house to caution her, and she abused me in the vilest manner. The house is a den of the very lowest kind. On Saturday night last I heard screams coming from the house. It was after 11 o'clock, and I went towards the house. I did not go inside, but heard the^voices of a number of men fhe^ house for tenor' fifteen minutes, and during.that time saw three or four drunken men leave the house. I aui prepared to swear that defendant's house is a very great public nuisance. CrOss-esamined by defendant — Ever since I have known you you have been low aud rowdy. I have seen many drunken men coming out of your house. I cannot say whether any one of the drunken men I saw is going to marry you. Charles Langfcon Neville—l am officer in charge of police in Eeefton. I have known the defendant since 1872. She has during that time been a reputed prostitute. She came to Eeefton six or seven months ago and went to live in a brothel at the lower end of the town. She then moved into a house of her own, which j place has become a perfect nuisance to the neighborhood, and, frequent complaints had been made to the police as to it's rowdyness. "Women of had repute frequented the house during the night time and scenes of riot and drunkenness are constantly enacted there. The defendant, in reply to the usual question from the bench, said that she came from Greymouth to Eeefton as a ■ servant to Mrs Oreasy. She left there and went to live with Mary Brinan, and i while there paid for her board. Next took a house and, lived respectably with the man who was now supporting her. None of the bad characters mentioned by the police visited her house. She was not a nuisaace to, her neighbors. His Worship said that th© information had been laid , under the common law, and the charge, was not, therefore, for him to deal wiili. Defendant was charged with keeping a disorderly brothel, aud as such was an indictable offence. In his opinion a sufficient case' had been made oat to send it before a jury. Defendant wad then committed for trial at the next sitting ot the District Court, Reefton. Bail allowed, defendant in £200. ASSAULT AND THREATENING-. LANGUAGE. W; S. Staite appeared at the instance of W,. M'Lean, charged with the above offences. Mr Staite admitted the charge, but urged that it was of a trivial nature, no injury whatever having been suffered by the* plaintiff. Mr M'Lean asked the bench to view the matter more seriously: The assault, though of a slight nature, had been quite unprovoked, and he therefore urged that it should be punished in an exemplary' manner. The assault wa3 the outcome of considerable ill-feeling, and as Mr Staite had had the option of apologising and had refused to do so, he asked that defendant be bound over.

His Worship said it was a great pity | that people should allow their little dif- i ferences to carry them away in such a I manner, and it was a still greater pity that the case had been allowed to come into Court. He was compelled to take an exceptional of defendant's conduct because his social'^positiqn aggravated the offence. It wasVexpected that persons? in^his position should' rather set a good example. Fined [£6s for each offence, and ordered to enter' into personal recognisance for six months. Shields Bros. y. M'Carthy— £6 ss. Claim for goods supplied. Judgment for the amount. ■■ Court then adjourned.