HUMAN DERELICTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20793, 9 February 1931, Page 7

HUMAN DERELICTS.

ASLEEP ON A BEACH.

SENTENCED AS VAGRANTS.

Fout;. men were arrested who were found sleeping under trees On tho Orakei Basin Beach on Friday evening. They were:— Edward Robert Crawford, aged 42, labourer; Henry Albert Griffiths, aged 52, coppersmith; James Bell Laurie, aged 59, painter; and Leslie Roy Keoghan, aged 30, labourer. In the Police Court on Saturday morning before Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., the first three accused were charged with being rogues and vagabonds, and Keoghan was charged with- being an incorrigible rogue. Constable Jones stated in evidence that when he found the accused, they, were under tho influence of methylated spirits and empty spirits bottles were lying around them. They admitted they had been sleeping out for some nights and were out of work.

" It would bo hard if men were sent to gaol merely because they were poor and needy," said Mr. Noble who represented tho accused. " They did not go into anyone's enclosed premises nor did they commit any offence against property." In convicting the accused, Mr. Woodward said that to send certain men to gaol was not a punishment for having no money, but rather an act of mercy in providing them with food and shelter. Crawford and Griffiths were sentenced to three months' imprisonment and Keoghan to six months' imprisonment. Laurie, who promised to go' to the Salvation Army home, was ordered to come up for sentence when called upon within six months.