POLICE COURT NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18553, 10 November 1923, Page 9

POLICE COURT NEWS.

AN UNREGISTERED MASSEUR.

DEFENDANT TO PAY COSTS.

A hvdropatbist, Frederick Samuel Martin, was charged in the Police Court yesterday before Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., with being an unregistered masseur. Senior-Detective Ward said that defendant was not registered, and he did not think ho was qualified to register as a masseur. The word " massage T had been used in his advertisement. , ■ ■ In a statement made previously defendant said he had not been long in his present occupation, but had taken an interest in it for 24 years. He had never tak.en pure massage treatment, but merely massaged his patients with oil and acetic acid as a protection from cold after bath treatment. The use of the word " macsage " in his advertseraent was more of un oversight than anything else. _ _ The magistrate entered a conviction, and ordered defendant to pay costs. He warned him not to use the word massage. LATE LAND RETURNS. Failure to furnish returns of land within the specified time was the charge against Herbert Irwin {Mr. R. G. Scott). The returns were sent nearly two months after the closing day; It was stated that defendant had not forwarded a return punctually since 1916, and the prosecution was brought as a warning. Late returns meant endless trouble and expense to the department. Defendant was fined £2 and £3 10s costs. POULTRY ILL-TREATED. For having cruelly ill-treated fowls by overcrowding them in a crate, George Paterson was fined £2. For the prosecu tion it was stated that a crate, 31in. by 26in., sent from Swanson to Auckland, contained 28 head of consisting of hens and ducks. The space for each bird was thus about 6in. by Sin. Three birds were found to be almost dead, and one had to be killed. TWO WOMEN CHARGED. Two cases were heard in which women were charged with having unlawfully mj ceived payment for the care of infants for a period of more than seven days. One defendant pleaded ignorance of the law and the othir had a license, but not for the house she was then occupying. The mag- • istrate ordered each to pay the costs. TROUBLE IN A TRAIN. The assault of a schoolboy was tho charge brought against William J. Donovan (Mr. Terr-)- The evidence showed that defendant struck the boy at the door of a railway carriage, when the lad went to open the door for him. Defendant's evidence was that the boy struck him mat, and he only pushed the boy away so that the blow would not be repeated. Defendant was ordered to pay 5s costs. MISCELLANEOUS CASES. A charge of having wilfully damaged a blind to the extent of £1, was admitted by a youth, who had previously been bo-, fore the Court on a charge of vagrancy, when evidence was brought showing that he wa* Jiving with a girl on the railway reclamation. The Rev. Jasper Calder said the act was a stupid and mischievous one, hut the boy was now assisting his mother and generally was of a different character- He was ordered to pay for the damage to the blind. As a result of an altercation after a g.fioke concert at Ellerslie, James Byrne was fined £2 for using obscene language and convicted and discharged for threatening behaviour. « Four youths, who admitted disorderly behaviour in Victoria Park, were each fined 20s and costs. The names were ordered not to be published.