LAW AND POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11825, 30 November 1901, Page 3

LAW AND POLICE.

SUPREME COTT.T.-CntyiNAi Sessions. (Before His Honor Mr. Justice Conolly.) The criminal sittings were continued renter day. ALLEGED FORGERY. A man named George .Samuel Whiteside, a well-known fanner of Tuakau, pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with forcing and uttering' a docimi»ut purporting to be a certificate under the Land Transfer Act. The Hen. J. A. Tole prosecuted for the Crown, and Mr. J. R. Reed defended the prisoner, Mr Tole, in opening the cane, said a man named Roderick McLeod purchased a piece of land supposed (o contain 10 acres from the accused. When the laud was surveyed it was found to contain sorce 15 acres. The papers were prepared by prisoner. McLeod saw- the prisoner after this, and lie (the prisoner) hinted something about a surplus of four acres. This nnulo .McLeod suspicious, and lie came to town to consult his solicitor. They went to the Deeds Office and found that prisoner had transferred 11 acres to McLeod ami cut out four acres, which stood in his o.wi name. A transfer in respect of this four acres tt.-,s presented to the Deeds Office, and the certificate of correctness on the back purported to be signed by McLeod. McLeod saw prisoner and intimated that his name had been forced, and that prisoner was taking four acres that did not belong to him: Ultimately McLeod got disgusted, ami the negotiations fell through. Several witnesses were examined by Mr. Tole. McLeod, in his evidence, said he did not. as far as ho was aware, give prisoner permission to put his (MeLeod's) nam© to any document. Mr. Reed explained that the defence was that accused was authorised by McLeod to put his name to the certificate. Mr. Reed called several well-known Waikato tesidents, who spoke as to the good character borne by Whiteside. Prisoner, in evidence, said he had been in the Waikato district for 37 years. He had been a member of the Raglan County Council for 11 years. He said ho considered the certificate was only a formal matter, and McLeod gave him permission to affix his signature to it. Prisoner made no secret about the four-aero surplus, and did not intend to deprive McLeod of it. Two transfers were made out, ono for 11 acres to McLeod and one for four acres to witness?, in ordoi to get full value for the land which was found to contain more than the .iroa mentioned in the Crown grant, and prisoner intended to afterwards 'transfer the font acres to McLeod. He admitted having boon fined £10 in the lower Court, upon a charge of attempting to defraud the revenue, by putting £90, instead of £490, in the transfer as the amount of consideration to be paid for the land. The jury failed to agree upon a verdict, and wore discharged shortly before ten p.m. His Honor intimated that the case would be re-heard on Monday next at eleven a.m.

ALLEGED BREACH OF THE BANKRUPTCY ACT. Thomas Watson Cut-bush, a voting man, entered a plea of not guilty when charged that he. being a person adjudged a bankrupt, did quit New Zealand and lake with him £20 and upwards, which ought by law to have been divided amongst his creditors. J.ho Hon. .1. A. Tole appeared for the Crown and Mr. .1. C. Martin tor tho prisoner. After a jury had been empanelled, the case was adjourned till this morning.

MAGISTRATE'S COURT. A the Magistrate's Court yesterday Mr. H. W. Brabant, S.M., made orders in tho following judgment summons cases: —Percy W. Bollard (Mr. Baxter) v. Alfred Wells. Defendant was ordered to pay £11 lis 6cl within one month, or in default to undergo 14- days' imprisonment. John Olson (Mr. Brookiield) v. Mick Mahon, defendant ordered to pay £3 5s within one month, or in default to undergo 11 days' imprisonment.

POLICE COURT NEWS. Mr. Thomas Hutchison, S.M., dealt with the business at the Police Court yesterday. Drunkenness: For habitual drunkenness Walter Townsend was sent, to prison for one week with hard labour. Four first offenders for drunkenness were convicted and discharged. Alleged Attempted Suicide: An aged woman named Wilhelmina McKenua was charged with attempting to commit suicide by jumping from the window of a twostorey building in Albert-street. Tho woman bore signs of being in a very weak state, having to be assisted into Court by the matron and a constable. Sub-Inspector Mitchell said that tho woman's condition was still very low, and he understood that she was suffering most from acute pains in her ankles, on which she alighted after jumping from the window. On being asked a question the woman stated that she had no intention to commit suicide, and complained that she had been harshly treated at home. The eldest daughter of the woman said that her mother's demeanour was at times somewhat peculiar. She seemed to have an everlasting desire to leave home, and when, she managed to get out of the house undetected she wandored about the neighbourhood and subjected the residents of the locality to considerable annoyance. On the day her mother jumped from the window witness had refused to allow her outside of the house, and with a determined intention to get out somehow she leaped from the window. Eventually the woman was remanded for medical examination. By-laws: A fine of 5s and 7s costs was imposed on Robert Martin for hawking certain goods at Devonport without having the necessary license to do so. Albert Zeigler was fined a like sum for wheeling a milk dandy on the footpath in ■ Mount Roskifl Road. A fine of IDs, and 7s costs, was imposed on Joseph Crawford for riding a bicycle on the footpath in Mount Roskill Road.

Trouble in a Railway Carriage: A res-pectably-dressed young man named Charles McCarthy was charged with behaving in a violent manner, to the annoyance of others, m a railway carriage while travelling between Auckland and Newmarket, and also with having used indecent language in the carriage. Charles McPiko wae charged with. behaving in an offensive manner while in the same railway carriage. The charges were taken jointly. McCarthy, who was represented by Mr. Cotter, pleaded guilty, and McPiko not guilty. - It appeared from the evidence that the outcome of the affair was that McCarthy, who had been over-in-dulging in liquor, quarrelled with a fellow passenger in the car over a bottle of liquor and eventually tendered McPiko' a pressing invitation to fight. Tin's request MoPike declined, and on arrival at Newmarket MePike was just about, to alight, from the car .when McCarthy used some most insulting and provocative language towards him. Several witnesses gave evidence for the pro sedition and all stated that no blame was attachable to MePike, who was rabvquently discharged. Mr. Cotter said that McCarthy had on no previous occasion been before the Court, and he asked that the. accused might be dealt with summarily, and to avoid sending the man to prison to impose only a fine. • His Worship said that the expressions the j accused made use of in the ear wore disj gustingly and abominably bad. This sort of i behaviour, he said, must be rigidly put down. But as the man had a wife anil family to I maintain and had previously borne a good character lie would inflict only a fine, which would be £5 and 13s costs, the alternative being two weeks' imprisonment, On the charge of behaving in a violent manner the accused was convicted and discharged.