A TRIVIAL CHARGE.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 33, 1 May 1917, Page 5

A TRIVIAL CHARGE.

At the Picton S.M. Court last Thursday, before Dr. W. E. Kadman and Mr Gordon Maitland, J-P- s, a -a ell known settler of Pclorus bounds, Charles August Borck, was charged with the theft of a rainproof coat and a sou’-wester, valued at £2 7s, the property of Porcival Holland. , The police, acting under instructions from Sergeant Hansen, applied for & n adjournment of the hearing until the 3rd of May, the next sitting of the Magistrate, Mr R. McCallum, who apeared on behalf the accused, strongly opposed the adjournment, stating that the witnesses for the defence had travelled lone distances at considerable expense in order to attend the Court, and, in these times, when labour was so scarce, it was not fair _to ask these men to again leave their farm work unneccssarilv. The case, he said, was a trivial one, and when the evidence of respectable settlors was heard, he was convinced that the Bench and the police would be perfectly satisfied that the accused was perfectly innocent of the charge, and had been a victim of the surtouuding circumstances. After consultation, the Bench decided to go on with the case. Mr McCallum detailed the circumstances of the case, from the time the coat was taken by mistake from the Terminus Hotel by a returned soldier and handed to Borck, and subsequently claimed by Holland. No evidence was given for the prosecution, and the Bench decided to dismiss the case.