REGISTRY OFFICES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 133, 28 July 1911, Page 5

REGISTRY OFFICES.

A CASE OF OVERCHARGING. (Per Press Association.) Auckland, July 27. A case of utmost importance to licensed keepers of registry officers came before Mr. Keetlo, S.M., sitting in the Magistrate’s Court, to-day. On the information of Inspector Hood, Charles William Buttle, who keeps a licensed registry office in Queen Street, was charged with what the Labour 'Department regarded as a wrongful act. Inspector Hood, in stating the case, said that in response to one of the defendant’s advertisements a young man named Horace Armstrong, a baker, who had recently arrived in the Dominion, applied for employment in the country. Defendant charged him five shillings as registration fee, and when Armstrong came back later on, he was informed ho could have a position at Okahunc, paying 18s 6d railway fee. He worked there for a week, when he had a disagreement with his employer. Then he came to Inspector »Hood, claiming that ho had been overcharged by the defendant, and when the matter was taken up by the Department a refund of os 6d was immediately made.

Mr Quinn, for the defendant, pointed out that the latter had been at considerable trouble and expense in telegraphing to obtain employment for Armstrong, and he naturally thought he was entitled to an extra fee.

His Worship, said that in his opinion the offence was a very serious one, and he doubted whether it was not > criminal act for defendant to extort from a person who was ignorant of the law and “green” to the customs of the country, money which defendant, a licensed proprietor of a registry office, knew he had not the power to demand. His Worship added: “Unfortunately, the law does not give me power in the first instance to cancel the license, otherwise I should have no hesitation in doing so. 1 have no hesitation in this case in Imposing the full penalty of £5, costs 17s, and witnesses’ expenses, and the defendant’ license will bo endorsed. Moreover, I think the facts of this case should bo reported to the police. Young people came from the Old Country, go to a registry office in search of employment, and they don’t know the law or how much they should pay, and they are ‘plucked.’ ”