Around and About The Courts

NZ Truth, Issue 1228, 13 June 1929, Page 5

Around and About The Courts

?illiiiliHiiiiiiiliillllllllllillllllllllli!lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltlllllll)l:i MICHAEL FAHEY, of Rangitata '* contravened the law; m four respects — by driving a motor-car while m a state of intoxication, driving y^ithout a license, failing to have the iiecessary lights attached, and failure to keep to the left-hand side, of the road. . H« admitted m the Temuka S.M. Court having had. four bottles of beer m- the car; but. maintained that he was quite sober. Evidence was given to the effect that Fahey swerved from one side of the road to the other,- until eventually he collided with a lorry. '(■. Fahey, m evidenpe, said., he had ''■■ ihree drinks at Winchester. "He could not exactly see that road," said Fahey, m explaining how he ' came to be zig-zagging across the highway. Fahey was fined £20 on the major charge, £1 and costs with respect to the second and third charges, and was convicted and discharged on the fourth. At the same, court, Charles Hewson, a farmer Of Orari, was charged with driving a car while he was m a state of intoxication, and with failing to report an accident to the nearest police station. He had first driven infd' on the Winchester-:Orari Road, and had to be extricated by a tlraction engine. •"■:• Hewson then proceeded oh- his journey, and van down a young lady on a bicycle. He had since, of his own free wili. paid compensation and expenses to the lndy. m .question. * Mr. .„ Orr -Walker, S.M.. considered that .Hewson v . needed a . sharp lesson, and": inflicted af : fine of £25 on the first change;'- with v ! cancellation o£ the license for 1 two- years." ...»..>;.,•..•.,: -..,.- ■uq ■■*'* -:::iW: ..'*&.* ■■■-'■■-■'* MR'f'jC. S.M. fto ;*wJtne.ss : F in the Temuka Court): 'Would;. you say that the defendant had had liquor? Witness: I would not like to say, sir. The Magistrate: Would you say that he had had no liquor? Witness: Well, he wasn't intoxicated, sir. * ' . * ; * ' ' . A FOOLISH bluff" was the description given by his counsel, Mr. A. V. Fraer, to the conduct of Frank Bede Carroll m altering the charges on a C.O.D. parcel by £1, when he faced a. charge of forgery .before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., m the Auckland Magistrate's Court. The charge Was reduced to one of false pretences on the application of Chief-detectjve Hammond, who said that a parcel arrived at Whangape, where accused was postmaster, oh which £1/10/9 was owing. This sum Carroll altered to. £2/10/9, but what had become of the extra pound was not known. ;From counsel's description, it appeared, that Carroll was the Pooh-Bah of the place. In, addition to postmaster,, he was a J.P., harbour master, customs officer and marine superintendent. "Mayor without election," as Mr. Fraer said. His .instructions were to recover what he could of £2000 worth of bad debts, and he had got m £600.' Mr. Hunt extended the benefit of the First Offenders Probation Act and dismissed Carroll without penalty, although he refused suppression of his name. , '

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiii! OAVIISFG-.' tramped around the South * Island; haying. spent much time m prison, and with" the idea of seeking Pastures new, William Moffat, alias William Roberts, •boarded the ferry steamer "Maheno" at''-L;yttelton and came to Wellington. -?. . It was ascertained, however, that Moffat had no ticket, and that he was a stowaway. He was arrested m Wellington and appeared before Mr. E. Page," S.M., when he pleaded guilty to .charges of failing to pay his fare and with intent to avoid payment of the same: Moffat, who is a married man living apart from his wife, and .who had only recently been released from' prison, was fined £2, and ordered to, pay £1, as his fare to the shipping -"qpmpany, m default 14 days' imprisonment. CHE was passing, an .hotel when another woman rushed at her and threw, a glass of beer over her. The victim retaliated, by knocking down the' offender, and of course, the inevitable policeman came on the scene. That was what ' Harriett Ellen Edkin told Mr. E. Page, S.M., m the Welling-

ton Police Court when she appeared on summons on ; a . charge , of fignting with a woman named Doyle. „ Doyle was v ,cbnvicted.* and fined 10/---a.t :a , jsittins of ;the> court, butshe '• i: blamed •;• 'Edkin and"; the latter blamed Do3 r le. -:; v : • ; The'- magistrate Ayas not long m deciding the case, and with a gentle homily to Edkin not to fight m the streets, he convicted and discharged her. ■--•'■ ♦*• # . . WHEN John Fry asked John Mitchell i ■" to buy him a beer he made his j request to the wrong, man. •> Mitchell is a Scotsman. This exhibition of the Scottish trait was ,too much for Fry, who has the blood of generations of Irishmen coursing through his veins, so he showed the characteristics of his race by punching Mitchell m the eye. No good Scotsman/ will .allow himself to be punched without retaliating, and Mitchell is a good Scotsman. A fight followed, and a ■ policeman came ' along ' v and;.- ; ' ar- • ' rested the two Johns. '.'■•.. Both men were brought before Mr. E. C. Levvey, S.M>., m the Christchurch Magistrate's Court on charges of being drunk and fighting. In addition Fry was charged with a breach of his prohibition ordeiv ■ •■■ Mitchell told the court that when he refused to "turn it on" for Fry he was i m the Clarendon Hotel bar, and was standing m front of the fire w^th both hands m his pockets. Fry hit him j "hen. He retaliatea, and they -went out on to the street where they began to fight. ;■ ' '■■';, j For being drunk Mitchell wag fined 20/-, and for fighting 10/- and costs,-; 'n default hours' imprisonment; Fry was sentenced to 30 days' imprisonment for being drunk, was fined £2. m default 14 days, for fighting, and was lined £2, In default severi days,' for breaking ftis prohibition order.

iiiiiiiiiiriiii'iiitiiniiiiiiiiiiiniiijiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin THERE are few occasions when a .man charged with being ; found drunk m charge of his motor-car fails to make a .fight of it and pleads not guilty, but George Hill, a hawker, admitted his offence when he came before Mr. E. Page, S.M., m the Wellington Police Court. Nevertheless, he received a heavy, penalty. According "to the police story Hill was driving his motor-truck while very drunk. He collided with a tramcar, and just prior to. that had narrowly missed hitting a motor-car. « Hill's truck was damaged to the extent of £20, and he himself had to be taken to -the; hospital for attention. In ■ the Aback 'of- 'the- cab were found two * bottles of beer. It was foolißh for Hill to take liquor, said Mr. A. C. Treadwell, who appeared for defendant, and further pointed out that his client was , not used to drink. He had not been on a drunken bout, but had simply had some drinks that had affected him badly. Without any comment, the magistrate imposed a fine of £ 20, m default 14 days' imprisonment, and cancelled Hill's license for twelve months. ! •- . : -.# •■■:.■•#- . # AS an indication that he would not rt tolerate offences of the kind, Mr. B. C, Levvey, inflicted a salutai-y .' penalty on Henry William Smith, a Christchurch dairyman, who was sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment a { few days ago for being intoxicated while m charge of a car, and had his « license cancelled for twelve months. i On the evening of May 10, shortly after five o'clock, Smith was driv- " ing along Norwood Street, and finished up with his car ditched m ] an open sewer. . j Smith claimed that the road was m * a bad. state through recent excavations and was badly lighted, but he ad- { mitted that he had called at four « hotels that day and had had five gins. . Norman Thompson and Henry John < Roskill gave evidence that Smith was i not intoxicated at the time, but the * magistrate declined to accept that view. ■'■".■■ ',