POLICE COURT.—Friday.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5370, 1 February 1879, Page 6

POLICE COURT.— Friday.

[Before R. C. Bars tow, Esq., K.M.I Drunkenness. —One person was punished for being drunk. Larceny.—Joseph Welling was charged with stealing pawn tickets worth JS2, the property of Jamea Kavanagh. He pleaded not guilty. Mr. Pardy aaked for a remand until Monday. The defence prisoner set up was that he got tho tickets from a woman named Ingham, and the police had not been able to find her. The remand was granted. Another Case. — Frank Edmonds, a lad eleven years of age, was charged with stealing a toy yacht worth £1, the property of Judge Monra. He admitted having taken the boat. Mr. Pardy said the boy had been deserted by his father, and his mother, a very industrious woman, was unable to look after him. and he asked to have the boy aeut to the Training School. Mrs. Edmonds pleaded hard to have him let off, and she would punish him at home. He had been attending school, and it was only during the holidays that he was running about. He was very useful to her in running messages, and she hardly knew what she would do without him. When the boy brought the boat home, he said he hail bought it for 6s, of which he paid 2s Gddown. His Worehiphesitated taking from the mother her only child, but warned her of her responsibility. He would let him go with her this time, but if he was ever brought up agaiu he would be severely punished. He was then discharged without sentence.

Vagrancy. —Elizabeth Spears was charged with being a rogue, vagabond, and common prostitute, and having behaved iu an indecent manner in Queen-street. She pleaded not guilty. Constable Hogan deposed to seeing the accused in Queen-streefc with her arms round a man, aiyi behaving in a most indecent manner. Mr. Cunningham, Clerk of the Court, proved the previous convictions against the accused. The accused called George Grant, but he did not appear. The accused made a long statement, denying the truth of what the constable had stated, and complaining of the injustice of being brought up under the Vagrant Act, as her husbaud allowed her los a-week for her support. He was at present in Dunedin. Tho Bench found the case proved, and sentenced her to a month's imprisonment, with hard labour.

Indecent Assault on a Child.—Patrick O'Keeife was brought upon remand, charged with indecently assaulting one Sarah Tye, u child I under the age of 10 ye.irs. He pleaded not 1 guilty. The charge waa not laid as au indictable offence, as no violence was alleged. Elizabeth Tye deposed that last Wednesday she missed her little girl. She saw Mrs. Brown with a teapot in her hand going toward her own house. She tried the door, but it was locked, and Mrs. Brown then opened the window. Then the door was unlocked, and the child, who was all of a tremble, came out. Witness called her, but the child would not come, being afraid of being beateu, but having promised not to beat her, the child came, and she questioned her. She then went into Mrs. Brown's house. | Prisoner was in the house, lying on a bed, pretending to be asleep. Tho child poiuted him out. Witness then described the assault as the child stated it, in tho presence of the prisoner, who did not deny it. According to the evidence, the assault was a very filthy one, the child being only 6 years of age. The magistrate then took tho statement of the little girl, from which it appeared that prisoner had carried her into the house, and laid her on the bed. The girl, however, became embarrassed and confused, and finally burst out cryiug, and nothing further could be got from her. Alary Brown was called, but did not uppc-ar. I\lr. Pardy said tho woman was keepiug out of the way, but he had sent for her. The witness having been brought into Court, gave the name of Mary Brown, wife of Thomas Brown, who was alive, but away. The two men, Buutwell and O'Keeffe, were in the house, ami when she came back with some water the door was locked. It was opened for her. The little girl was on the floor, and prisoner on the bed. She heard the girl say that he used a bad word, and pulled her clothes up. This was in the presence of the prisoner, who made no reply. It was prisoner who opened the door for her, for the other man was drunk and asleep, Prisoner had some ' liquor, but was not drunk. Sergeant Fleming deposed that he found prisoner concealed in a coal-hole at Mrs. Brown's house. The child made a statement of the assault in the presence of the prisoner. The i>ri»oner, iu reply to the Bench, denied having touched the child. The Beuch found the case proved. It was a fortunate thing for the prisoner that Mrs. Brown knocked at the time sho did, or he might have rendered himself liable to very serious cousequences. As it was, he would be sentenced to four months' imprisonment, with hard labour.

Liabilities of Landlords: The XelsonSTiiEET Drowning Case.—Edward Harvey again appeared to answer a charge, laid under the 27th sub-section of section 5 of the Auckland Municipal Police Act, IStift, in not keeping the' cover of a well on his property in good order. The caso had been partly heard on Tuesday last, and the evidence then takeu was read over. Mrs. Jones, mother of the little boy who was drowned in the well in question, deposed that at the time of the accident she lived in a house in Nelson-street, the property of the defendant. On the 22nd inst. her child was drowned. Her other boy told her Georgy was down the well, and she became almost wild with grief. The cover and frame of the well were quite rotten. She had previously spoken to defendant of tho dangerous state of tho well, and he promised to repair it, but all he did was to put a handle on the windlass. Cross-examined: She had been to the well at 6 o'clock, just prior to the accident, and the lid was on and closed down, and she was quite satisfied it was on when the accident occurred, but the weight of the child going across it broke it down, and the cover fell in with the child. Henry Stockly deposed to having assisted to get the child out of the well. The cover of the well was not very rotten, nor very sound. There was no lid on the well when he got there, but he found it down the well, when he went down for the child. Crossexamined : The answer ho gave to the Inspector as to being shaky, referred to the windlass. Ho did not examine the frame-work at all. Sergeant Clarke deposed that he found the covering in a very dilapidated state. A portion of the frame-work and the lid were in Court, and they were very rotten. The well was off Nelson-street, and was accessible from the street, not fenced in in any way. The wood was not sufficiently sound to hold the hinges. Mr. Pardy then putin the Municipal Police Act, and the Gazette bringing it into force in the city of Auckland. Mr. Laishley raised the point that the Municipal Police Act was not in force in Auckland. The Municipal Corporations Act, 1876, impliedly repealed the other, as it gave express authority to the local Government to make regulations for the good government of the city. He referred the Court to the 20Sth section of the Municipal Corporations Act, and also to a subsequent section in the by-law clauses. His Worship referred to the 315 th section, to point out that if a by-law was made contrary to the Municipal Police Act, the Act would remain in force, and not the by-law. The 208 th section only gave authority to the Council to step in and make good any daugerous place, ! but that did not remove any liability or any 1 penalty provided for in the Municipal Police Act. The Abolition of Provinces Act was very clear on the subject, that any by-law contrary to that Act had no force. Mr. Laishley accepted the ruling, and then commented on the evidence, and called the defendant, who deposed that ho was a carpenter by trade. He remembered Wednesday, the 22nd inst. He had seen the well the Monday previous to that, and it was in good repair, and the lid exactly tho fit for the well, and nothing too small, and it was not rotten, and no child could break through it. It would bear 10 men's weight, aud the framework was the same ; it would bear 10 men's weight. The child could not have fallen down the well if the lid was on. It would be impossible. The framework was still on, and would bear a horse, aud the ledges which supported the lid were also sound. The lid could not full down the well by reason of its being too small, for it was not too small. It was not true that McCullaui paid him rent, or spoke to him about the well on the 11th of January. They had no conversation on the subject at all in January. Witness, a few days before the accident, sent Mr. Williams to do what repairs were required to the well, to put on a handle, and to see what it wanted. He put a handle on the windlass, and said the well was ail right. He was crossexamined at some length relative to the rottenness of the timber and tho insecure manner in which the hinges were fastened. The portions of timber in Court were examined, and submitted to the Bench by Sir. Pardy. Theodore Williams, a carpenter, deposed he knew the well in question. He had been employed a few days previous to the accident by Harvey to see to the well, to put a handle to the windlass, and do anything else that was required. tie put on the handle, aud he considered that was all the well required. He looked at the lid, and it seemed to him to be safe. It fitted the framework, and tho framework did not seem to need repairs, and ho did not notice that the hinges were loose ; but, even supposing there wero no hinges, there was no possibility of tne weight of a child breaking it down. The Bench severely commented] on the conduct of this witness. Ho ought to have been at the bar instead of the defendant, for neglectiug to do what he was employed to do. It was quite apparent that the hinges were not fastened, for the ikeads of the screws were broken off. The Bench found that the lid had not been kept in repair, but the defendant employing a carpenter to do what was necessary mitigated his offence. There was no doubt he had neglected to do what he was employed to do, and he was really the culpable person. It waa quite clear that the faulty nature of the fastening caused the death of the child, for the evidence was cjear that the cover weut down with the child. A human life had been lost through a piece of gross carelessness. He ordered the defendant to pay a fine of 40s and 30s costs, but had he not employed the carpenter he would have fined him in the full penalty of £10. Defendant applied for time to pay it, and a month was granted.