BEGGING ALMS

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11663, 30 October 1923, Page 4

BEGGING ALMS

NOT JUST THE TOUCH ARTISTIC.

AIAGISTRATE’S DEFINITION,

The fact that a middle-aged man* William Wilson, aged A2, and a‘ native of Scotland, bad stopped Thomas Lindsay in Taranaki street last week and asked him for money vas not sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction for the criminal offence of begging alma. Such was the opinion of the magistrate, Air E. Page, S.AI., at the Alagistrate's Court yesterday, when Wilson pleaded not guilty to the above charge. Air J. Scott appearing for the accused offered as a defence that tho evidence of the complainant was extremely unsatisfactory in that he could not give exact times or localities. Wilson declared that he was on acquaintance of the complainant's and had made a statement to that effect. In dismissing the case His Worship declared that the section under which the charge was laid demanded something more definite than the fact thit a maqj had approached someone whom he professed to know and asked hirr for a few shillings. Begging may be interpreted as meaning that a man stood in a public highway and asked pedestrians for money.