RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 6048, 18 August 1880, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Tuesday, August 17. (Before E, Shaw, Esq., 8.M.) William McKay and Walter Sisley were each fined sa. for having been drunk on the previous evening. Antonio Bitossi, on remand, charged with stealing a lamp, valued Bs., was discharged._ Emanuel Macoioni was charged with hav.'ng assaulted Annette Piazzi. Complainant stated that she had formerly lived with defends it. and since his desertion she had taken a siti'ation in an hotel, but had latterly been lodging in a house kept by Mrs. O’Leary, where the assault had been committed. Defend* it called at the house to see her, and although she was in delicate health he struck her several times in the face. Defendant stated that he had received considerable provocation. His Worship considered the assault unjustifiable, and sentenced defendant to six weeks’ imprisonment with hard labor, and on Ha release to be bound over in the sum of £IOO to keep the peace for six months. HORSE WHITEING CASE.

TT. A.Willis, » schoolmaster at the Lower Hutt, was charged with having assaulted M’. Gr. W. Jordan, at the Hutt, on the 9th instan*. Mr. Gordon Allan appeared for complainan , and Mr. H. H. Travers for the defendan . Mr. Allan, in opening the case, stated that defendant was a teacher at the Lower Hutt State School, and complainant’s children attended that school. Complainant having, as he thought, good reason, addressed a letter to the defendant setting forth certain faot . Mr. Jordan was walking out on the evening of the day on which the letter had been deliver d when Mr. Willis met him, and said “ Now I have got you,” and thereupon assaulted him with a horsewhip. There had been no provocation. Complainant stated that he had child n attending the Lower Hutt School. He sent a letter to the Board, and also one to defend? it for the purpose of giving him an opportunity of rebutting it. He met defandant thesame evening on the main road, near the railway station. Defendant crossed over to him, and said “By God, I am going to horsewhip yon.” and struck him several heavy blows on the head and face; saying, as he (witness) retreat into a garden,’. “There, I have ’ yo . and you can do yonr worst.” He did not sr - the instrument used. To Mr. Travers : The reason he wrote the letter was in consequence of hearing some things affecting the character of defendant; the letter was one the Board must take coguia- • anoe of. He had no other school to send h : s children to.. He had no spite M Willis, and no desire for the headmasterahip of the school ; he was not competent. Mr. Travers, who had pleaded “Not guilty” for defendant, said the circumstances of the assault had arisen out of the letter_ M Jordan wrote to the Board, and that if he behaved the charges contained in that letter, he ought not to have allowed his children to remain at the school. Defendant had no other remedy ; tor it he had proceeded criminally he was not in a position to pay costs ; his only remedy, therefore, was to take the Jaw into his own hands, knowing that he was justified in doing so. With regard to the severity of the "assault, he did not deny that a good caning had been administered on the legs, but held that the blows on the head were accidental. : His Worship was quite willing to take any evidence in extenuation of the assault, but opuld admit of no palliation unless such evidence was produced. After some discussion, Mr. Travers handed in the letter, which was read by Mr. W. P. James (Clerk ef the Court) as follows “ Lower Hutt, 19 th August ; “ sir,—l beg to hand you for the purpose of being laid before the Education Board, at its next meeting, a statement with respect to the condition of the Lower Hutt State School and the relations existing between the headmaster and mistress of the school. My allegations are as follows-: § “1. That the present head-master and mistress obtained and still hold their position by a gross fraud upon the Board, inasmuch as they represented themselves as man and wife, and since the retention of the have cohabited as such. That there exists in the office o! the Commissioner of Police in this city, conclusive evidence that the master, Mr. Willis, had at the time of his appointment a wife then living, and a short time ago was resident in Mount Macedon, Victoria. “2 That previous to his appointment at the Hutt,' Mr. WiUis held a similar appointment under the Nelson Education Board, which he resigned for no ostensible reason, but it was generally ascribed to the relations which existed between himself and the present head mistress of the Hutt school. “ 3. That previous to this Mr. Willis held a similar appointment: under , the Wellington Education Board, at Johusonville, during which time he passed himself off as a single man, and that probably owing to this circumstance the usual inquiry into character was dispensed with on re-appointment to the Hutt school, the officers of the Education Board being ignorant of what had occurred in the interval. “4. That a search has been made of the

official register o£ the colony, and no recordcan be found of any marriage having taken place between tho parties in question. “5. That the existence of such relations between the master and of a State school is a violation of the Education Act and of the Board regulations, and an insult alike to parents, teachers, and scholars, and a scandal to the district. “ I am fully aware of the step I have taken in making these charges, and am prepared to abide by tho consequences, for I am satisfied that the circumstances which will bo brought to light in the enquiry which will ensue will justify me in the course X have taken in this matter in the mind of every right-thinking man.—X have, &c., G. W. Jordan, Lower Ilutt. “To the Chairman of the Wellington Education Board.”

In answer to his Worship Mr. Travers stated that defendant declined to go into the witness-box, and would submit to the judgment of the Conrt. His Worship, in giving judgment, remarked it was defendant’s right to step into the box and refute the imputations contained in the letter. Defendant, by his training and position, ought to have been an example to those around him, but instead of that he bad elected to take the law into his own hands, and refused to justify his conduct by meeting the charges made against him. Defendant was ordered to be imprisoned, with hard labor, for two calendar months in Wellington Gaol. BREACH OF BY-LAWS. —MAINTENANCE. George Mabey, charged with cruelly ill■treating a horse, was fined 20s. Henry Cooper, for being drunk while in charge of a hackney carriage, was fined ss. . and costs. Frederick Cooper, on a charge of allowing the chimney of his house iu Manners-street to ■ catch fire, was ordered to pay 10s. aud costs. Thomas Locke, on a similar charge, was fined ' ss. and costs. Mr. A. G. Johnson appeared in support of ■ several charges for breaches of the city bylaws, with the following result ’ —H. Bebble, for having a horse at large, was discharged on payment of costs 5 Hicha r d Tobin, for depositing rubbish at the Botanical Gardens, was fined 7s. aud costs 5 and Alexander • Cameron, for having three cows at large, was fined ss. and costs, Samuel and George Cormin were charged with neglecting to support their sister. Hia 'Worship ordered the girl to be handed over to the care of an aunt, who had intimated her willingness to take care of the girl, and that the brothers contribute 2s. and 3s. per week -respectively towards her support, this amount 'to be supplemented from some other source. William Oakley, on remand, was ordered to contribute 7s. Od. per week to the maintenance •of his mother.