TOOK GIN FOR RHEUMATISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15326, 12 June 1913, Page 5

TOOK GIN FOR RHEUMATISM.

AMUSING CASE IN COURT.

The antics of an elderly man, named John Lees, attracted a considerable crowd in the neighbourhood of a city hotel on Tuesday evening. A oonstable arriving at th© spot found Lees, who was under th© influence of liquor, brandishing an umbrella and chasing an old man with it. His arrest was a matter of some difficulty, Lees apparently resenting any interference. When charged in tho Police Court yesterday with being disorderly while drunk, Lees, in explanation of his conduct, said: "A doctor told me I was full of rheumatism, from the top of my head to tho soles of my feet.'-* Inspector McGrath: You are charged with being full of liquor, so you had better confine your explanation to that. The accused then questioned the constable who arrested him as to whether he could tell tho difference between a man drunk on gin and one drunk on whisky, stating, that he had been drinking gin as a cure for his rheumatism. " I was only playing. Do you think that I would dance about in the street for fun, with rheumatism such as I have got?" lie asked. On tho inspector's suggestion that a prohibition order would be a good thing, the accused said: "What's tho use? I live in a prohibited district." "But that does not prevent you from getting too much liquor," answered the inspector. * The Bench prohibited the accused, who left tho Court muttering " I* suppose I had better go to Roto Roa, but I shan't be able to get a drop on my way there in the train."