LOW AND POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11433, 25 July 1900, Page 7

LOW AND POLICE.

" POLICE COURT NEWS. ' Afb H W. BRABANT, 3.M., was tho prosiding .magistrate at tho Police Court yesv e £temiC3s! John &■ Mima's and Thos. : EeynoWs were each fined 10a, or 48 hours' Jnrd labour in defauiu for tins offence; Mary J 1 - Smith, ss, or 24- hours' hard la•hour-' and Frederick "Watson, alias Welter- = strand, ss, :or 24 hours' hard labour; two first offenders were convicted and discharged. M Maintenance: An ordor was made against %os Bcrrymaa.for 2s a week toward tho v ninnort of his mother. William Pell was ordered to pay bs a week toward the support of his children. -A Charge of Theft: Paul Purchase, charged with the theft of three shirts, tho property of ..v person or persons unknown, was remanded till Monday next, on tho applica- \ *; on of Chiof-Doteotivo Grace. ' Trespass: An old man named David Mills, who was found sloeping in Mr. F. G. Clayton's 'muse at Newmarket, having made a bed it* himself out of sacks and old clothing V'os charged with being found on tho memiics by night without lawful excuse, and sentenced to a month's hard labour. -'; Shop Assistants Act: Tho firm of W. and n Winstono wero charged, on tlio information of the factory inspector (Mr. H. Forcuson), with committing a breach of tho Shops Act by employing an assistant after one p.m. on Saturday. July 7. Tho Crown Prosecutor (tho Hon. J. A. Tole) conducted tho caie for tho inspector. Mr. Winstone said he intended to plead, guilty, but pointed ; out that the award of the Conciliation Board allowed them to employ carters aftor ono o'clock on Saturday upon payment of overtime'' and that in this case _ tho assistant ivy a carter engaged ii) delivering coal. His Worship said if ho wished to offer that defence his best course was' to plead not guilty. The facts of the case being admitted, Mr. Tole said tho Conciliation Board had no power to go behind tho Shops Act, and moreover the award of the Conciliation Board in respect to tho carters was of no valuo whatever, Mr. Justice Martin, in the Arbitration Court having recently decided that ♦he Carters' Union had no status as an industrial union undor tho Arbitration Act. His Worship said it was clear that a carter delivering coal was a shop assistant within the moaning of tho Shops Act; but as tho defendants appeared to have considered that they were protected by tho award of tho Conciliation Board, ho would only inflict a fine of £1 with costs, £1 Bs. George W. Colgan was charged with keeping his shop open aftor ono p.m. on Wednesday last, the duly authorised weekly halfholidav. Mr. Tolo anpearod for the prosecution, and Mr. T. Cotter on behalf of the defendant. The facts of tho case, which wero admitted by the defendant, wore that he was the proprietor of a tobacconist's business, run in conjunction with a billiard saloon in Karangahapo Road. A single door gives acres both to tho 'shop and the saloon, and on the afternoon of tho weekly holiday the dofendant shuts oft* the shop from tho passage loading to the billiardroom by means of a screen. -This, Mr. Tole admitted, prevented access to tho shop, and it was contended by Mr, Cotter that it complied with tho meaning of tho word "close" as defined by tho Act. Mr. Tolo contendod that when two shops have a common entrance both must be closed to comply with tho Act. His Worship reserved judgment.