MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 59, 16 April 1914, Page 8

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

(Before Messrs H. J. Crowther and H. Qnane, J.P. 's.) COMMITTED. Charles Henderson was committed to the Supreme Court for trial on a charge of carnal-knowledge oi his stepdaughter,, aged 13 years. Accused, who was represented by Mr F. W. Johnston, pleaded not guilty. Bail was fixedy accused in his ,own recognisance of £IOO and two sureties of £SO each or, one of £100; T . CHARGES OF BURGLARY* On the evening of January 4 last Mr P. A. Bruford, a warehouse manager, then living at 31 Rhodes Street, Merivale, left his home about 8.10 o'clock, accompanied by Mrs Bruford. When they returned less than an hour later they found their front door open and the place ransacked. Someone had gained entrance by cutting a piece of glass out of the kitchen lattice window and putting back the catch." Jewellery and other articles to the value of £3O had disappeared.

A sequel to this incident was the appearance in the Police Court this morning of Albert Gordon Smith, alias Ross, on a charge of having broken and entered Mr Bruford's house aini stolen the jewellery.

Mr and Mrs Bruford - detailed the condition of the house as they found it, and identified certain jewellery produced.

Constable Goulding, of Culverden, who had arrested accused on another charge, on March 25, stated that the jewellery produced in court had been found by him amongst accused's effects. -Smith accounted for his possession of the articles by saying that they had been returned to. him by a girl prior to his leaving- Australia..-: Smith was also charged with having committed a similar crime at the dwelling of Thornton Cape Williamson, of 47 Bhodes Street, Merivale, between February 21 and 22. In this case the charge concerned £4 in money and jewellery and other articles bringing the total value to £l3* Thomas C. Williamson stated that he left his house on the afternoon ef February 21, and returned-on the following afternoon to find that the place had been entered by: a window, and a room ransacked.

Constable Goulding deposed to having found some of the missing articles in accused's possession, as ki the previous case.

Accused pleaded not guilty, but refused to sign the plea. He was committed for trial in the Supreme Court.

(Before Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M.) INSOBEIETY. Six first offenders were dealt with for drunkenness. Five were fined 5/each, and the fifth, who had selected the railway station for displaying his incapacity for assimilating liquor, was fined 10/-. William Webster was fined 10/-, in default 48 hours' imprisonment, on each of two charges, one of being drunk, and the other of procuring liquor during the currency of a prohibition order against him. CIVIL CASES. Judgment was given by default in the following cases: —L. and C. Leslie v. David M'Leod, £SO; P. Keagh v. Arthur Waghorn, £3 13/-; L. W. Balkind v. William 11. Steel, £1 12/-; Atlas Biscuit Co. v. W. B. Pope, R. Fizelle, G. Moorehead, and J. T. Todd, £l6 1/1; Beath and Co. v. W. B. Pope, E. Fizelle, G. Moorehead, and 3. T. Todd, £lB 0/11, Mary Ella Vartha v; W. B. Tomlinson, £1 10/-, and possession of a tenement; D.I.C. v. Mrs M. Dean, £3 5/-; Hughes and Cossar v. Win. Cook, £25 7/-; L. W. Balkind v. Cecil Way, £5 13/6; International Harvester Co. of N.Z., Ltd., v. Joseph Breen, D. A. Lane, and T. A. Lane, £56 10/-; Alfred Burgess v. Philip S. Hill, £ls 5/1; W. 11. Simms and Son v. F. Cooke, £8 7/5; John W. A. Adair v. Wm. Cook, £9 3/-; Ridley and Co., Ltd., v. Alice Bennett, 11/6; Charles Brice v. John Burchess and Son, £3 15/8; The Barnett Glass Rubber Co., Ltd., v. Henry Wright, £.16 2/7; Louis O'Brien v. George Brodziak, £6 7/6. LYTTELTON. (Before Mr L. A. Stringer, J.P.) At the Lyttelton Magistrate's Court this morning, James Kennedy and John Breen, for committing a breach of the peace in London Street last night, was each convicted and fined 10/-, in default 48 hours' imprisonment.