LAW AND POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9061, 23 May 1888, Page 3

LAW AND POLICE.

POLICE COURT.—Tuesday. [Before Dr. Giles, R.M.] Inebriates.—Kate Power was fined 5s and costs or 24 hours' imprisonment with hard labour. Edward Eberhardt was fined 20s and costs or 48 hours' imprisonment with hard labour. A Mistake.—Mary Coleman was charged with being drunk in the street. Accused pleaded not guilty. She and her husband testified to the fact that she was subject to fits. The R.M. dismissed the case. Larceny. —Henry Hering was charged with the larceny of a coat, the property of Louis Henry Neumegen, valued at 10s. The prisoner pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to four imprisonment with hard labour. Boarding a Moving Train. — Joseph Hopkins was charged with a breach bf the Railway bye-laws oy getting on to a train while in motion at Buckland Station on the 9th May. The accused pleaded guilty. Mr. Clendon appeared for the Department. Fined 5s and costs. False Complaint. —Thomas King was charged with a breac'h of the Prisons Act by preferring a false complaint against an officer of Her Majesty s Prison, Mount Eden, on the 18th of May. The accused pleaded not guilty. George Sinclair Reston, governor at Mount Eden, produced the warrants, etc., authorising the accused being kept in custody. He deposed that on the morning of the 18th (last Friday) the prisoner was brought before witness at his own request. Witness asked prisoner what he wanted. He replied, " I ana the prisoner come up to see the doctor, with others. He went before the doctor. Witness never refused to let him see the doctor. The doctor said the prisoner had nothing the matter with him, and did not want the soap liniment he asked to apply to his back. When the prisoner entered the surgery, he said, "I want some soap liniment for my back," and then left, without waiting to get an answer, to go to the hospital. The doctor came to witness, and said,'' There is nothing the matter with him." I allowed him to see the doctor. He said I wanted to do so this morning, and Mr. Wooley, the warder, would not let me, and told me to go to my work again. Witness expressed doubts as to this statement, and prisoner repeated them. Prisoner was confronted with Wooley, in the presence of the doctor. The doctor called witness , attention to an entry the doctor had made in his diary. John Joseph Wooley, warder at Mount Eden Gaol, said he was on duty on the morning of the 18th, attending the doctor. The prisoner came in and asked for some liniment for his back, but the doctor said there was nothing the matter with prisoner, and he did not want the liniment. The prisoner here stated that Mr. Wooley had told the doctor that Erisoner had made a mess in the Hospital y spilling the soap liniment on the floor. Prisoner also stated that when he asked the doctor for the liniment, on the Friday, the doctor replied, "all right." Witness stated that the man's conduct was bad—he was up before the doctor almost every morning. Prisoner: " I'm not the only one. I do not go up every morning, only about three times a week." Dr. Thomas Moore Philson, deposed he was medical attendant at Mount Eden. On the morning of the 18th, the prisoner was before him, and asked for a soap liniment to rub his back. From repeated observations, witness concluded that prisoner was scheming, ad told Warder Wooley not to give him any. Prisoner refused to leave, and insisted on being attended to. In reply to prisoner, Dr. Philson said, "I have examined you frequently. You scarcely ever miss a day. lam convinced you are a schemer." Prisoner: "Mr. Wooley told

you I waa a schemer." Dr. Philson : "No, he did not. , * Prisoner: " Did you examine me?" Dr. Philson : " Could I see a pain in your back?" Prisoner: "No." Dr. Philson : " Then, what was the use of my examining you ?" The prisoner here stated that he had been shovelling " stuff," and had hurt his back, and *vent to Dr. Philson to get some liniment. Th 3 doctor said he could have it, but Mr. Wooley refused to give to him. The gaoler said at present prisoner was in the first-class, and was within 14 days of getting out. The Resident Magistrate stated the case was clearly proved, and sentenced the prisoner to four

daye on bread and water, and to lose Bufficient good' Conduct marks equivalent to an extra two months' imprisonment.