THE SEAMY SIDE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20069, 8 April 1927, Page 12

THE SEAMY SIDE.

Two barristers, two policemen, and three taxicab drivers occupied an hour at Thames Police Court recently deciding whether or not a fourth taxicab driver had stood on- the pavement or in the roadway. , , . , , , . The accused driver had invoked nia union to defend him, hence a very trivial offence becatne a serious case. “Vanity, just vanity,” declared Mr Cairns, the magistrate, who observed that certain types of modern young men had such an exaggerated idea of their own importance that they resented any reflection on their highly-developed ego. Three drivers obeyed an officer’s order and went into a cafe, the fourth objected to any interference, and was promptly arrested. “Ho had an exaggerated sense of his own dignity and importance,’’ said Mr Cairns. “Ho ought to have joined his friends, and washed down his dignity with coffee. He is an egoistical obstructionist on a'pavement which in this part of the city is very congested, and I will discourage this kind of vanity by a fine of 20s, and £3 costs ” There is more in this case than meets tire eye. There is resentment against constituted authority, and the fact that two barristers were engaged on such a small affair shows that an ordinary incident of discipline might be magnified into a political situation. Defiance of constituted authority represented by the police, who are working for the peace and comfort of the common weal, is the effect of an insidious case. . Mr Cairns, in inflicting a line of 20s. and £3 costs, denounced -in exaggerated ego which resented any interference with its licence ; but, as I havis said, this defiance of discipline may have a wider significance. Hence tire employment of learned counsel to fight over wlut should have been a 6s fine Mother-in-law jokes are in bad taste, I admit, but 1 must record the excuse of a man charged at Tower Bridge Police Court with having been drunk. He said he received a letter from his father-in-law saying that his mother-in-law was dead, and he simply could not contain .is joy. At the same court recently a weary* looking man said: “I was in a publichouse, and put a shilling down on the counter. A woman picked it up, and I locked her in the eye, and said, ‘Open your mitts,’ and then the harmony started. Mr Tassel], the magistrate at Tower Bridge, does not use strong language as a rule, but recently he made William .lames Fawn squirm. “I have never heard of a worse case,*S said the magistrate, his words tinkling like icicles. “You are a contemptible scoundrel, and you have got hold of the life’s savings of a young girl who could ill afford to lose them. You will go to prison for 12 months with hard labour.” The prisoner, who had been previously convicted, obtained £42 from the girl, a' typist, who supported her widowed mother, on the pretext of buying a house. Also ho persuaded her to advance money on a patent which ho said would make their fortunes. Middle-aged and plausible, he was an outstanding example of the fact that you cannot tell a confirmed criminal by his face. An open countenance is the practised criminal’s best asset.