AT A BATCH OF STOWAWAYS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 317, 5 December 1906, Page 3

AT A BATCH OF STOWAWAYS.

NEW CHUM "DEAD-HEADS" ' , FROM WELLINGTON. THE CHEAP TEIPPERS BEFORE y , THE COURT. A GOOD SAMARITAN TO THE -;;•-- RESCUE. ?'At the Magistrate's Court this morni 1 ing; before Mr H. Eyre-Kenny, S.M., ;V ;three men named Patrick Gubbins, I John Johnston, and John Delaney, . were charged with having on the sth December travelled in the steamer Mapourika from Wellington to Nelson without first paying the fare, and with the intention of avoiding payment. From the statement made by Gubbins it appeared that the men had come to Nelson to look for work, having been told that there was plenty of employment in >this city- * The men had come out 'from Home with one of the recent batches of .emigrants, and had been working on the North Island Trunk Railway. Sergt. Dougan informed the Magistrate that Mr Langlands had promised to. give the men work. The. defendants all said they would commence work this afternoon if they could get it. The Magistrate remanded the men until 2.30. p'jn., Sergt. Dougan undertaking in the meantime to see Mr Langlands' .foreman and arrange for the payment; of : the steamer fare. . On the cases being called, at the Court this afternoon, - the Magistrate was informed that the. three men would be. employed by Mr Langlands at the Septic Tank- contract, and that the fare would be paid. ■ Mr Kenny, addressing the defendants said he was taking an unusual course, but as the men were desirous of working he would do what he could to assist them. ' Therefore he would not fine them (though a fine of £5 could be imposed) but. would order them to come up for sentence when called upon, on condition that they agreed to repay Mr Langlands a sum of 13s lOd each. The three men, as stated above, were for a time oh the North Island trunk railway works, ■ but found the conditions so hard and trying that they "chucked it lip," as one of the trio remarked, and decided to "move on," and find employment as miners or at least some labour more congenial than the railway works. The charges against tfag% Mapourika stowaways having been disposed of, another man, named James Langley, was charged -with having on the Sth inst travelled in the Arahura from Westport to Nelson without paying, or intending to pay, the fare. The defendant pleaded guilty, and in reply to the Magistrate said he was going to the North Island railway works to take the place of another man. The Magistrate said he could not make much out of the statement, but nothing more explicit could . be got out of the defendant. Sergt. Dougan said he had asked Mr Langlands if he could give the men work, but' the reply had been that there were no mere vacancies- -in fact it had been a squeeze to find ..anployment for the first three men. ' Mr Tyson (Inspector of Factories) who happened to be in Court, in reply to a question informed the Magistrate that work was plentiful in Nelson just now, and that the defendants could soon get a job. Mr Tyson undertook to make inquiries to the men going on to the railway extension works above Tadmor. The Magistrate therefore adjourned the case until Friday morning, by that time Mr Tyson would have ttade inquiries.