CITY POLICE COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25668, 17 October 1944, Page 7

CITY POLICE COURT

Monday, October 16 (Before Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M.) Cigarettes Sold to Youth' Sam Gin (Mr F. M. Hanan) pleaded guilty to a charge of selling a packet of cigarettes to a youth under 15 years of age.—Senior Sergeant Johnstone said that the prosecution was the result of a complaint by the headmaster of a school that one of his pupils had been sold cigarettes by tho defendant.—Mr Hanan said the defendant did nnt customarily serve in the shop, and sold the cigarettes to the boy without giving the matter thought. —lmposing a fine of 10s and costs (10s), the magistrate remarked that the law was very often broken by unthinking parents who sent their children to obtain cigarettes for them. Fighting in Street Robert Horsburgh, aged 25 years, a seaman, and .William Mclndoe, aged 31, a labourer, pleaded guilty to fighting In Customhouse square on October 14. Senior Sergeant Johnstone said that at 6.20 p.m, on Saturday the two accused were seen fighting on the footpath in front of Moody’s tobacconist shop. About six other young men were also involved in the disturbance, but they were cn- • deavouring to separate the accused. The latter had had liquor, but were not drunk. They were most aggressive, and even when they were arrested they maintained a belligerent attitude towards each other. Mclndoe had been In custody over the week-end. but Horsburgh had been bailed out on Sunday night.—ln reply to the magistrate, both the accused declared that they had not been responsible for the disturbance, and that it had been a "free for all."—“ It is a pity you did not go to a secluded place where you could have battered each other to your heart's content,” the magistrate said. He fined each of the accused £2, In default 48 hours’ imprisonment. Breaches of Man-power Regulations The Associated Bottlers' Company, Ltd. (Mr J. C. Robertson) pleaded guilty to two breaches of the industrial man-power regulations. The company was charged with employing George Eric Gillan without. previously having obtained the consent of the district man-power officer, and with failing to advise the man-power officer within 24 hours of the termination of the employment of Edward Whtic.— Mr A. J. Haub, representing the department, said that many employers of labour were apparently unaware that they were required under the regulations to advise the man-power officer immediately upon the termination of the employment of any worker. This was the first occasion on which a prosecution for this breacli had been instituted, and the department was not pressing for a heavy penalty. The defendant company, however, was aware of the need for obtaining the man-power officer’s consent before engaging labour, and the department regarded the breach as a flagrant one.—Mr Robertson said that some of the man-power regulations were obscure in their language, and it was extremely difficult for employers to determine their meaning. He suggested that the department should make public a clear statement setting forth employers' liabilities under the regulations.—On the first charge the defendant company was fined £5 and costs (10s), and on the second a fine of £1 and costs (10s) was imposed. Chimney Fire For permitting a chimney to catch fire, Nancy Catherine Cowie was convicted and ordered to pay costs (10s).