LAW AMD POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11644, 4 May 1901, Page 3

LAW AMD POLICE.

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.— id at. I (Before Mr. jr. W. Brabant, S.M.) i OliDEltS were ruado on the following judg- I ment summonses: —Smith and Caughey (Mr. j Burton) v. J. W. Boyle, ordered lo pay £6 j 15s 5d within one month, in default "four- I teen days' imprisonment; Seegner, Langguth and Co. (Mr. Mahony) v. A. L. Edwards, | ordered to pay £7 Ifcs 5d within one month, I in de-fault fourteen days imprisonment; Victorian Fine Art Company (Mr. Gittos) v. Henry Jackson, ordered to pay £5 6s 6d by | instalments of 53 per month, in default lour- i teen ..lays' imprisonment. Defended Case: James Rolloston v. G. Y.. i Owen, claim £o, on a cheque signed " G. W. Owen and Co." and handed to plaintiff by defendant's son, and dishonoured. The i defence was that the cheque was drawn on I the son's account, and that the defendant was | not responsible. Mr. O'Meagher appeared ! for the plaintiff and Mr. McGregor for the : defendant. His Worship reserved his decision. POLICE COURT NEWS, Mr. T. Hutchison. S.M., presided at the Police Court yesterday, and Sub-inspector | Mitchell represented the police. Drunkenness: For this offence Joanna ! Barrett and Annie May Thomas were each . fined 10s, 43 hours hard labour ir default; i and Michael Kiloy 5s or 24 hours in default. I Frank Smith, who had been remanded on : this charge for medical treatment, was ordered to pay 6s costs, or in default 48 hours' imprisonment. A House of 111-Fame: A middle-aged man named John Urquhart was charged with permitting his premises in Hargreaves-street to be used as a brothel. Constable Finnerly and a neighbour gave evidence as to tho reputation of the house. Accused was convicted and fined £10, or in default two months' hard labour. Remanded: A young' man, respectably dressed and clean-shaved, named Walter Lock, was remanded till Wednesday next, on the application of Chief Detective Grace, on a charge of stealing from the Bank of NewZealand, at Auckland, the sum of £220 in 22 ten-pound notes. Mr. J. It. Lundon applied for bail on accused's behalf, and this was allowed in two sureties of £250 each or one of £500. Maintenance : A charge against John and Daniel Rush of failing to maintain their mother was dismissed. A Street Row Two young men named John Hogan, and George Chevis were charged with being guilty of threatening behaviour in Manukau Road, Newmarket. Hogan admitted tho charge and Chevis pleaded not guilty. The evidence showed that an altercation took place at a social held in the Newmarket Hall, J when Hogan was requested to leave. An adjournment was made to the road by the parties, and a scuffle ensued. 1 lie charge against Chevis was dismissed, and Hogan was fined 10s and costs 17s. An Important Question : His Worship gave : judgment in the case of J. Seeley, charged on the information of the Inspector of Fartories with two breaches of the Shops and J Shop Assistants Act by not allowing an assistant named Ethel Langwell an hour for dinner on March 16 last, and for employing j the girl in his shop for more than eleven l and a-half Lours on the same date. In giving j judgment, His Worship said that under tho first information the question was what was \ the real and substantial employment of the girl, who performed domestic duties as well as shop duties. In his opinion she was a shop assistant. It was alleged that she was engaged as a shop girl, and that she was allowed tho weekly half-holiday of shop assistants. Oi the further question of whether the girl >va.s allowed the hour for j dinner on tho 16th inst., the prosecution ', must succeed, as it was shown that the girl : had to go about her work as soon as she had i finished eating, and, therefore, had not the ! hour allowed by the Act to shop assistants. J 'Hie defendant must be convicted. The second information was laid under section 12 of the Act, which provides that " a woman sh.-ill not work for hire in or about any shop, '. etc., for a longer period than nine and a-half i hours, including meal times, in any one day except on one day each week, when eleven i and a-half hours may be done." The section i by itself, as far as an employer was concerned,, was nugatory, and section 14 appears to bo its complement, and combining the two sections, the question seems to be whether the girl was employed in the shop beyond the permitted hours. The term " employ" is not restricted to the case of a servant actually and continuously engaged in shop work; if she were, in fact, in charge of the shop, though at the same time engaged in other work, she would be "employed," but where a servant is exclusively engaged in a different kind of work distinctly separable from shop work, the time consumed in that work ought not to be computed in the hours of labour ; n connection with the shop, under section 12. The. girl did house work in the earlier part of Hie day, and after that worked in the shop from two p.m. till half-past eleven p.m It could not. be inferred that the girl was engaged in shop work for eleven and a-half hours on March 16. If the information, had lxwn laid in respect of the week, the case wruld have been stronger, because it appears the girl was engaged almost habitually till late hours. The defendant must be entitled to the defect of proof. On the first information defendant was fined 20s, and the second was dismissed. Sir. Ferguson : aid that His Woiship's decision would help him in getting the Act amended, as he could not hope to obtain a conviction on the second charge, as the law stood. Dismissed: Kura te Kiri, a prepossessing half-caste, was charged with assaulting Venetia McDonald by striking her in the face w'th a bottb; in Grey-street on April 15 last. Mr. J. R. Lundon prosecuted, and Mr. C. E. MacCormick defended. This was an application for rehearing, the matter having been dealt with on Thursday in prosecutor's absence. It appeared from'her sworn evidence that her then counsel (Dr. Laishley) declined to appear on Thursday, although paid a fee of £2 2s, unless a further guinea were aaid. The rehearing was granted, and evi-

dence adduced to the effect thai on tha occasion in emotion defendant had assunltori Mrs. McDonald in the manner complained of and caused he t nose to b!<?*<l ptrrfusoly* besides biting her hand. Xo evidence mm adduced in contradiction. His Worship stated ho considered no assault had lven proved, and dismissed the information without calling on the defence.