POLICE COURT.— Thursday.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6212, 14 October 1881, Page 6

POLICE COURT.— Thursday.

TBefore R. C. Bar=tow. , Esfi.,|K.M.] Usfilial Conduct.—James Mullins, on warrant, was charged with failing to obey an order of the Court to contribute to the support of his mother, and with being £i 10s in arrears. He admitted owing the amount, but was not in a position to pay. He had a wife and three children to keep. lir. Pavdy said the man was not in a position to pay. He had only small wages, and had recently been under a great deal of expense owing to sickuess in his family. One of hie i children was now very ill. His Worship adjourned the case to the Gth of January, time giving defendant three months, in hopes that in the meantime he would be able to pay off some of his liabilities, and contribute something to the support of his mother. [ Chimney ox Fire.—Michael Egan was charged with allowing the chimney of the house occupied by him in Lome-street to be on fire. The defendant did not appear. The case was proved by Sergeant Clarke. He was fined Is, and costs 7s. Keeping a Brothel.—Robert Stephenson was charged under the Vagrant Act with being the occupier of a house frequented by reputed thieves and prostitutes, and with having no lawful visible means of support. He pleaded not giiilty. The case, Mr. Pardy said, was similar to one heard before the Court a few days ago. The defendant kept a brothel, and decoyed young girls to their ruin. He was repeatedly cautioned by the police. He called the attention of the Court to a little girl 14 years of age, whom he had decoyed to a life of prostitution. Detective Brenuan deposed to knowing the accused as a brothel-keeper in Abercrombiestreet, from thence he went to Karangahaperoad, and from thence to William-street, off Chancery-street, where he kept an infamous house. He found the child before the Court in the house with other prostitutes, and J knew that men had stopped in the house the night before. Sergeant Gamble gave evidence as to the character of the house kept by the accused in Abercrombie-street. It was a common brothel, and three prostitutes then lived in his house. (The defendant said he was soft-hearted, and gave the poor girls shelter.) Detective Jeffrey deposed that when he arrested the prisoner he found Emily Howley, a well-known, prostitute, there, as well as the yonng girl before the Court. He had been convicted before on a similar charge to the present, and was also convicted of rape. The aceused again asserted that he had only taken the women in through charity, and never gained a penny by them. He called no witnesses. Mr. Pardy, in reply to the Court, said that the only means of living he had was what he made off these unfortunate girls. He sometimes, as a blind, hawked fish, but did not hawk sufficient to make a livelihood. Men of this class got more than two-thirds of the money given to the unfortunate girls. He was found guilty, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour.

Vagrancy,—Emily Howlcy was charged, with a breach of the Vagrant Act, by having no lawful visible means of support. This woman, who was referred to in the previous case, pleaded guilty, and made no statement in defence or mitigation. She was sentenced to four months' imprisonment, with, hard labour. Jane McManus, the child, also referred to in the case against Stephenson, was similarly charged; Mr. Pardy asked that she might be discharged with a caution. Her mother lived in Alexandra - street. His Worship said if she was brought up again, she would be sent to gaol at least for a year. He would recommend her mother to find a place for her out of town. He would pass no sentence on condition that the girl was sent out of town. Breaking and Entering.—Te Kohi, Retumano te Rangi, Ropiha te Wharena, Mahu Potakirau, and Heta Ngatuhuia, on remand, were charged with breaking and entering the store of Messrs. Jacob Christmann and Philip Theil, and stealing therefrom, thereby committing a felony at Awitu, on the 22nd of September. Mr. Brown was sworn interpreter. There were five prisoners in the dock. Mr. Laishley objected te the proceedings, to have the two extra prisoners included in the charge, after the proceedings had been commenced. His Worship said there had been no proceedings yet, and it was quite competent to have the others joined in the charge. Mr. Laishley said it would put the first three prisoners to serious disadvantage, for the two last named prisoners were to have been witnesses for the defence. Mr. Pardy said he felt it his duty to charge them with the others, and it would be for His Worship to judge whether the evidence against them was sufficient to constitute, a priina facie case. If that was not established, they would be discharged, and could then be called as witnesses. Mr. Pardy then opened the case for the prosecution. He pointed out the great difficulty of tracing a case of this sort, and said he would not be able to complete it to-day, but he would offer sufficient evidence to justify the Bench to further adjourn the case. Philip Weisheimer, a partner in the business with the other two named, at Awitu, deposed that they kept an accommodation house and store, known as the Boat Hotel. The store was broken into on the night of the 21st of September. Witness locked the store on the night of the 21st at about 9 o'clock, and hung the key in the kitchen of the hotel. The store was twelve to fourteen yards from the hotel. He did not see any Maoris about the place after he locked the store, for he was inside. His partner (Mr. Theil) was the first to go to the store next morning, but witness did not see him go. When witness got up he heard something, and went to the store and examined the door. This was between 6 and 7 o'clock. He found that the staple had been drawn. The door had been secured by a padlock and chain, and the staple produced was drawn from the door post. He picked up the chisel produced near the corner of the store outside. After this he went into the store, and missed goods, but did not then stop to see what had been taken. He saw that cases had been removed, some broken open, and he missed some sugar at this time. He then went out to look for footprints. He found footprints which led towards the beach, and he then returned to the house and saw Mr. Christmann and Mr. Thiel, and they had a conversation, and they then saw Mr. Garland and told him that the store had been broken open. Garland and witness then went up the hill to look for further traces, and found further on towards the beach that the footmarks continued, and traced them to the beach. They then returned to the house, and then Garland, vituess, ami Christmaun searched the tea-tree for the goods, each going in different directions. Witness, after searching for half an hour, ■ oturued without finding anything. 3e lieu;- '. Christmann call out, and went to him. Garland was within a few yards, and he handed some tea over the fence. There were two small chests of tea, some bottles of wine, and some tins of salmon. They were hidden in the scrub, which is 5 or 6 feet high. They were taken back to the house, and were now before the Court. While searching, he saw three Maoris—Rangi, Heta, and Te Kohi, close to where the goods were found, but he did not speak to them. He heard Garland speaking to them, but did not hear what was said. The witness was cross-examined by Mr. Laishley : The goods in the Court were all that were found, but they missed other goods. He was quite sure he did not plant these goods in the tea-tree. At that time there was some dispute about the shooting of a horse, which they blamed him for. He shot the horse by accident, but did not know who it belonged to. Ropiha had spoken to him, and he told him it was an accident, and that he would pay him compensation. He offered him £2 10s in payment, but he did not take it. Ropiha did not mention £9, or any sum, in his hearing. The horse was not killed. Philip Frederick Thiul deposed that he was a partner with the last witness at Awitu. He remembered the moruiug of the 21st ult. Got up that moruiug between C and 7 o'clock, aud went into the yard and saw the store door open ; that was unusual. His partners were then in the house. He was annoyed at the store being open, and went to the store when lie found the door open. When standing at the door the last witness joined him. He saw that the staple had been drawn out, and that the lock was hanging by the chain. Did not particularly examine the store then, but saw that goods had been taken. Went and looked about, and found two mattrasses which had been taken out of the out-house belonging to them. Found them on the side of the road going to the .hill. John Garland deposed that he was a settler at Awitu. He formerly kept the Boat Hotel, Awitu. Remembered the night of the 21st ult. He slept that night at the Boat Hotel. Got up about 7 o'clock next morning, being called by Christmaun, who told him the store had been broken open. He went down and had a look at it, and decided that the best thing to do was to look for tracks. Weisheimer aud Christmann were with him. Saw the tracks on the hill described by Weisheimer in his evidence; they were all fresh, about four hours old. They were on the top of the hill, ant! indicated that two or three persons had been there. Found a piece of tobacco and ashes of a pipe lying about. Returned to get some breakfast, and then proceeded to renew the search. On going out the first time saw a son of Mohu, and afterwards Heta, going up the hill where the mattresses wore found. That was about 7.30 a.m. On going up the hill the second time, towards Boyle's, met Rangi and Kohi coming up from the beach way in an opposite direction to himself. He did not speak to them then, but went to the beach and took his dingy, and pulled round in the direction of Boyle's, without landing. Kept the two Maoris in view all the time. They got into the tea-tree, and walked about. Kept the dingy under cover of the rocks and watched. Saw one of the Maoris get on tho fence rail and look into the tea-tree. He pulled back on seeing the Maori jump down from the fence. Landed, and went ! up to the place where he had seen the Maori standing on the rail. When he got there they had gone. He went through the fence, and found, three yards distant, the chests tea, wine and spirits, tins, &c. (produced in Court). Anyone standing on the rail would see the goods there, as the tea-tree was about five feet high. He went towards the hotel and saw Christmann, and cooyed, when the latter joined him. Saw Rangi and Kohi leading a horse towards the hotel. Christmann and lie

returned ..to _where..the goods _w.ere lying. Rangi called out to witness when he saw him go in the direction of the goods to come back, but he paid no attention. Christmann and he got the good's out, and they were removed to the hotel. Mahu and Boyle came up to them while they were getting the goods out of the tea-tree. Mohu asked in broken English what was the matter. Witness replied, " Yon ought to know more about them than I do." Mahu made no reply. Boyle and Mahu went away to the hotel. Some tins of salmon and a lantern were found near the place where the other goods were found. The lantern was previously found by Christmann. The chisel produced was witness' property, and taken from the hut where the tools were. The witness was subjected to a lengthy and leverecrosa-examinationby Mr. Laishley, with a view to show that it was possible for other parties to have taken the goods besides the prisoners, that the natives were accustomed to run their horses in the locality where the the uoods were found ; that they were looking for missing horses at the time, and that witness had on a given occasion acted as interpreter between Christmann and Rupaha with a view to a compromise of the affair, as a horse belonging to the natives had been ' shot and injured, but the witness steadfastly adhered to his previous statements. At this stage the case was adjourned to Thursday week, and the accused admitted to bail, £40 each, and two sureties of the same amount. Singular As.sj.i7lt.—A boy of 9 years of age, named William Jenkins, was brought up before the magistrate, having just been brought across from the North Shore by Constable Moar. Mr. Pardy explained that, in a boyish quarrel at the North Shore, the boy Jenkins had stabbed a boy named Alexander Gratten in the back with a penknife. Dr. Hooper was attending the injured lad, and Jenkins was released on his father's recognisances, to appear again on Monday next.