MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1790, 8 November 1919, Page 4

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

TO-DAY'S CASES. The Christchurch police have been conducting a kind of spring-cleaning during the week. As a result, Mr S. E. McCarthy, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this morning, was called upon to deal with a procession of human derelicts whose ill-ordered lives could be plainly read in their appearances. Idle and Disorderly.—The first four were women, charged with being idle and> disorderly and consorting with rogues, and prostitutes. May Ritchie, alias Watson, was the first to appear. She pleaded not guilty and stated that she had been working for the past seven months. If she were given a chance she would leave the city. The police evidence went to show that accused had been found in various hotels on divers occasions, in the company of thieves and prostitutes. She was a woman who had-been known to the police since 1911 as a person of immoral habits. Not only that, she was in the habit of "taking men down." The Magistrate: Three months', with hard labour. Minnie Pines pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. Christina Mills pleaded not. guilty. She said she had been working. The police evidence showed that she was in the habit of consorting with thieves in hotels. The Magistrate: Three months', with hard labour. Christina Lawson pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, with hard labour. Drunkenness.—Three first offenders for drunkenness were each fliTcd 5/-, in default '24 hours' imprisonment, and an old man, ! who had been found drunk on the railway ] station, was convicted and ordered to come up f«r sentence when called upon. • Michfltl Shechan, with four conyictions against him, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. . Edgar Phillip Richards was charged with being drunk, and also with procuring liquor during the currency of a prohibition order. He pleaded guilty to both charges. The Magistrate: Dipsomaniac. Remanded for one week for medical treatment. A first offending woman, who was described as suffering from alcoholic gastritis, was remanded for one week for medical treatment. ' A Bunch of Onions.—A well-groomed young man, named Herbert William Hill, pleaded guilty to the theft Of a bunch of onions, valued at 2/-, the property of Chew Lee, of Cashel Street. Senior-Sergeant Cummings said that Hill, while passing Chew shop, took a bunch of onions. A constable standing at the next corner saw the onions protruding from accused's coat, and, after interrogating him, made an arrest. The Magistrate: You will be convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon. You will report to the probation officer also. Maintenance.—Colin Wm. Rcnnic Campbell pleaded not guilty to having failed to maintain his child, and was remanded to appear at Ashburton on November 14, bail being allowed in self £SO and two sureties of £25.