MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 234, 6 November 1914, Page 5

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

(Before Mr T. A. B. Bailey, S.M.) INSOBRIETY. Four statutory first offenders were charged with drunkenness this morning, one being convicted and discharged, and the three others fined 5/-. Charles Ruesel was convicted of drunkenness and fined 20/-. INDECENCY. Ray Sinnot and Mary Ann McKenzie were charged with having committed a grossly indecent act in the Domain Gardens yesterday. Sinnot pleaded guilty, but the female accused elected to plead not guilty to a further charge of being an idle and disorderly person without lawful means of support. Matthew Wills and Grace Manson were also charged with a similar offence in the same place, and, as before, the man pleaded guilty and the woman pleaded not guilty.. She was also charged with being an idle and disorderly person, without lawful means Of support, and pleaded not guilty. The facts of the case were well supported by police evidence, which also showed that the women were well-known to the police as prostitutes. Mr Cassidy, who appeared for the men concerned, stated that they were working men who had come down in a party from the North Island for Cup week, and their character as such was admitted by Sub-Inspector McKinnon. The two women were each sentenced to nine months' imprisonment on the major charge, and were convicted of being idle and disorderly. Sinnot and Wills were each fined £5 and ordered to leave the town immediately. r A particularly unpleasant feature of the case brought out in the police evidence was that the two women employed two girls to act as watchers for them. One of these young women was Eva McKenzie, a daughter of Mary Ann McKenzie, and one who figured prominently in the notorious Girl in the Taxi" case. The other was a girl of 17, a cousin of Eva McKenzie, who had been brought up from Oamaru, where the party had called in their peregrinations.: The elder girl, whom the police stated to be: living by the same means as her mother, j was committed to the Salvation Army j Home for 12 months. The younger girl | was not brought before the Court, but was; committed to a receiving home in the j meanwhile, until the police had made en-; quiries from her mother as to whether] the girl was under her control. j

BY-LAW BREACHES. John R. Armstrong, for cycling on the footpath, was fined 7/- and costs. Thomas Clancy, for cycling without a light, was fined 10/- and costs. Crossby Packwood, for exceeding the speed limit while motor cycling over a crossing, was fined 10/- and costs. For a similar offence, involving a charge of "reckless driving," Francis Henry Patterson was ordered to pay costs amounting to -2.1/*,- William James Wills," for grazing cattle on the public road at Halswell, was fined 10/- and costs. FATHER OF THE GANG. William Wills, a young man, was charged with throwing stones to the danger of the public at Richmond, and generally annoying the neighbourhood. The evidence of the constable in charge of the district was to the effect that the youth was the "father of a gang" of young village larrikins, and had been previously convicted of disturbing the peace. He was fined 40/-, 25/- costs. WASTING WATER. Edward J. Wilson, W. Ellis, and W. 11. Duderidge, were charged with wasting the city water supply, by means of a.garden hose, not having a meter attached to their supply. The first-named was fined 40/- and costs, and the others, being new arrivals, and not having a knowledge of the city b\ r -laws, were each fined 10/- and costs. JUVENILE COURT. At a sitting of the Juvenile Court this morning, at which Mr T. A. B. Bailey, S.M., presided, a girl 19 years of age was charged with being an idle and disorderly person, but the charge was withdrawn on condition that the girl entered the Salvation Army Home.

A TRAM CAR PARTY,

A. Wren was charged with a breach of the Tramway Board's by-laws, in having used obscene language, threatening language, and with failing to give his name to a conductor, when on a tram car. Mr T. G. Russell appeared for the Tramway Board, and Mr J. J. Dougall for the defendant. Evidence was given by the conductor, P. Cook, that Wren, with five other men, entered his car at New Brighton

and commenced smoking in one of the enclosed compartments. The Witness asked the party to stop smoking, and all did so except the defendant. He was again asked to stop Smoking, and refused, with some bad language. The party were all pretty hilarious, and when the witness asked Wren for his name he gave the wrong name and address, and -used obscene language.. The witness then got the motorman to come in and identify Wren. When the ear arrived at the Square the defendant turned to the witness and said, "If you open your mouth about this I'll make it hot for you." E. C. Wharton, commercial traveller, gave corroborative evidence, and further hearing of the case was adjourned until 3 o'clock this afternoon. CIVIL CASE. John Joseph Pearson, for hawking without a license, w:as -fined 20/- and costs, and Harold Jones, for hawking in a prohibited street, was fined 5/- and costs. LYTTELTON. (Before Mr J. R. Webb, J.P.) REMANDED. Arthur Halstead was further remanded for a week on a charge of carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 16 years.