RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 751, 23 July 1886, Page 14

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

At the Resident Magistrate’s Court last Friday morning, before Mr Warded, R,M., Wm. Carroll, alias Peare, alias Livingston, alias Stanley, was fined 5s or 24 hours imprisonment for being drunk. A second charge was preferred against him for having assaulted Constable Pecnyfather in the execution of his duty. After hearing the evidence, the Magistrate sentenced accused to 14 days. At the Magistrate’s Court last Friday morning, Collins and Toomath sued J. Stevenson for £ll 6s 6d, value of certain tradesmen’s requisites left by plaintiffs upon defendant’s property after completion of a contract, and damages for detention. Mr Barton appeared for defendant. The Magistrate made an order for the delivery of some of the articles to the plaintiffs, and gave judgment for £2 11s 6d

(including £1 damages and also £1 costs. The case occupied considerable time. Mr Wardell, R.M., gave judgment for plaintiffs iu the following cases ac the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday week : J. Coogan v F. S. May hew, £7, costa lls; same v J. A. Leggatt, £5 5«, costs lls ; same v E. Kavanagh, £4 10s, coats 8s ; same v W. H. Lambert, £8 10s, costs lls ; Castendyk and Focke v H. Sutherland, £5, costs 7a ; George Reichardt v E. T. Cox, £ls Is, costs £2 2s ; Scott Bros, v J. Bleunerhassett, 9s ; Wellington Meat Company v C. Libline, 12s 9d, costs 6s ; same v M. Phillips, 13s 9d, costs 6s ; Veitch and Allan v W. H. Smith, 13s, costs 6s ; Baker Bros, v G. Driscoll, £lO, costs £1 lls ; Accident Insuran.e Co. v J. W. Stewart, £6, costs £1 lls ; Messrs. Warne and Buck v United Importers Co.—ln this ease plaintiff sought to recover £lO as damages for a recent collison in Manners-street. Judgment for £3 2s, with costs. Oa Saturday morning at the Resident Magistrate’s Couit, before Messrs C. C. Graham and Eb. Baker, Justices, aa immediate summons case was heard, in which William Jacobs sued W. Murphy for £9 in connection wiffi the sale of a piano. Mr Bell appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Devine for defendant. The summons was issued at a very short notice, >pn plaintiff's rt-presetation that defendant was about to leave Wellington for Kimberley. The evidence went to show that defendant’s wife had agreed to give plaintiff £1 as commission on the sale of a piano, while he was to keep anything he got over £23 for himself. The sale of the piano had realised £3l, and after receiving the money for it defendant had refused 'to pay plaintiff, and stated that he intended going lo the goldfields first boat. Murphy stated, on beiDg put in the witness box, that he did not intend going to Kimberley, if he went at all, till the 27th instant by the barque Kentish Lass. After considerable evidence was taken, the Bench gave judgment for plaintiff for £8 with costs. Immediate execution was granted on the application of Mr Bell. At the Magistrate’s Court on Saturday, Alfred Richardson was charged with beiDg drunk, He pleaded guilty, and was fined 5s or 24 hours’ imprisonment, Richardson was also charged with having assaulted Constable McAnerin in the execution of his duty. On this second charge he was fined 10s aud costs.

At the Magistrate’s Court on Monday afternoon a judgment summons case was heard, in which J. Reid Bued C. Mack for £3 ss. An order was made for the payment of theamonut forthwith, or in default 14 days’ imprisonment.

George Kemp and Michael Teague were brought up at the Resident Magistrate’s Court.on Monday morning charged with having stowed away on board the steamer Manapouri on the passage from Auckland to Wellington. Both men pleaded guilty. Mr Gully appeared on behalf of the Union Steamship Compaoy, and asked that exemplary penalties should be imposed, as stowaways had latterly become a great source of annoyance to the Company. Defendants were ordered to pay £3 10s, the price of a steerage passage from Auckland to Wellington, in default of distress seven days’ imprisonment. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning, before Messrs J. H. Betfiune, J. Dockie, aud EC. Halse, Mary Moxham, aa old offender, for drunkenness, was fined ss, with cost of cab hire, or in default 24 hours’ imprisonment. Henry Ellis, another old offender, for the same offence, was fined £l, or in default 48 hours’ imprisonment. Three first offenders were dealt with in the usual way. Alexander Olsen was punished with a fine of £1 153 at the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Monday, for having allowed his chimney to catch fire.

Charles Mack was charged at the Resident Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning with having played an unlawfull game of chance called “ three card monte,’ 1 on the Hutt racecourse, on the 10th inst. Mr Shaw appeared for defendant, who pleaded not guilty. Mr Hurrell, a workman employed at the Kaiwarra Soap Works, gave evidence to the effect that that he had seen accused ou the 10th, standing near the Pipe bridge. Accused had some cards on a table before him, face downwards, and was inviting the bystanders to bet that they could find a certain card. Witness saw the persons take np the bet, which they lost. Constable Taylor gave evidence of a similar nature. Mr Shaw argued that “ three card monte,” was not a game of chance, but entirely a game of skill. He referred to a case at Auckland in which prisoners had been charged with playing this game under section 89 of the Gamiug and Lotteries Act, 1881. It had then been argued, for the defence, that the racecourse was not a public place, and that the game was one of skill, inasmuch as it lay with the operator to manipulate the cards so skilfully that the eyes of the onlookers were deceived. The Bench did not take the same view of the case. Accused was fined £5 and'' costs. Mr Shaw gave notice of appeal, and asked the Bench to fix the amount of recognisance as surety that the appeal would be proceeded with, as provided in the Act ; and also requested that the penalty be increased by Is, so that the appeal might be made upon the facts as well as the law points. The Bench agreed to this, and ordered Mack to enter into his own recognisance of £5 and one surety of £lO.

William Richardson and William Crossley, were charged at the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning, before Messrs Eb. Baker, F. Jellicoe, and N. Reid, Justices, with having been found without lawful excuse in the stables of James Russell. Richardson and Crossley were also charged with stealing some bottles of stout, the property of T. G. McCarthy. Mr Shaw, who appeared for accused, applied for a remand till Friday, which was granted. Judgment was given for plaintiffs in the following cases at the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday :—E. Cooper v J. Cooper, £l4 153 6d, costs £2 2s ; McCarthy v J. O’Neill, £2, coets 6». An order was made in the case of J. Christopher v J. S. Allen for payment of £9 Bs, by instalments of £1 per month, the first payment to be made on the Ist September, or in default 14 days’ imprisonment. J. J. Powell v C. Retter, claim £lO, judgment was given for £2, plaintiff to pay costs of the case. The lad Henry Smith, who was sentenced on Monday week to a month’s imprisonment for stealing brass nuts from the woodwork of the Queen’s Wharf, has had his imprison-

ment remitted by the Governor, and has been ordered to be detained in the Caveisham Industrial School until he shall have attained 21 years <.f age. It may be remembered that ••he presiding Justices intimat-d their intention of recommending to his Excellency this course, as the lad was too old to be thus dealt? with on the direct motion of the Justices.

Mes-rs E. Baker and W. Seed, J.P/s occupied the Bench at the Resident Magistrate’s Court ou Wednesday. A first offender for drunkenness (a female) did not appear when called upon, and was fined 1(K Richard Burke was fined £l, in default three days’ imprisonment for assaulting William Hewitt on the 17th inst. A charge of assault preferred by William Standen against John Kilminster was dismissed. The charge arose over a dispute iu connectiou with a boundary fence, and the Bench characterised it as a neighbor’s quarrel, which ought not to have been brought into court. Mr Thompson appeared for plaintiff, and Mr Fitz Gerald tor defendant.

An order for the rehearing of the case William Jacobs v William Murphy, in which judgment was given on Saturday last for plaintiff, was granted by Messrs Eb. Baker and W. Seed, J.P.’s, on Wednesday. The claim arose from the sale of a piano by plaintiff on behalf of defendant, the sum of £9 being demanded for commission. Judgment was given on Saturday for £8 with £1 12s co3tß, and application for a reheaiiog wasnowmadeon the ground that the absence of material witnesses had prejudiced defendant’s case. Mr Devine made the application on behalf of defendant, and Mr Izard opposed. After argument, the case was re entered for the next Friday.