MAGISTERIAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13973, 6 August 1909, Page 7

MAGISTERIAL.

TIM All I'—AFGI'ST oth, HMIO. (Hefore Mr V. G. Day. S.M.) '. .BY-LAW 1?R FACHKS. Frances Raine, fur whom Mr Iloliestou npjicured. put in a plea of guilty on. a. eiiargc of riding a cycle on the footpath, and was fined os and costs. Lncy"*Hurdley was "'''dealt with >iniilarly for the same offence.

A batch of boys, who pleaded guilty to .similar offences, were convicted and discharged; and a man named E. Laing was fined 10s and costs.

.The charges against A. G. Xalder for driving a motor car at speeds exceeding the legal limit-were adjourned until the 2Gth iust.. pending the judge's decision in the Appeal Court on cases of a similar nature. A WELSHEII FIXED.

John Laing Smith, a Christohureh resident, appeared to answer a charge of stealing £1 from one Andrew Brown at the Tiniaru rat-eeour.se in the 20th i.nst. Mr Kinslio appeared for tin- :iccused, and pleaded not guilty. According to the statement of Sub-ins]K'<-tor Oreen tlie accused was a man who was in the habit of frequenting racecourses, and on Thursday last he was at the South Canterbury Hunt Steeplechase meeting held at the Timaru racecourse, where there were a good many bookmakers, some licensed and some not. The accused was alleged to have done betting business under the name of \V. Black and issued tickets with that name upon them. A client gave him a ill to back a horse in the tirst race named. Laghmor, which won. When the. bettor went to Smith and asked for his dividend Smith refused to pay and denied all knowledge of the transaction. Several others had been '•welshed" in the same manner by accused, but did not wish to press tlie charges. Andrew Brown, farmer, said he was at the Hunt Club meeting on Thursday. He saw accused calling the odds; lie had a bag with the name •' Black : ' on it. Witness gave the man a il\ on a horse in the first race and received a ticket. The horse Laghmor won, and when witness went to the aroused to get his £3 dividend he refused to pay, and said his mime was not Black. He would swear that the accused was the man to whom he paid the t'l and who gave him the ticket produced.

To Mr Emslic: He was quite sure accused was wearing the bag produced, and he gave him the money. There was another man with accounts, but be was sure it was to accused that he gave his £l. The bet was made before the race started.

| Defective MeLcod said he was on the J racecourse on'the Thursday, and -Mr i Brown complained to him that he hail | beeu unable to get payment on his | winning bet from accused. 'Witness j went to the man and took him into the f stewards room, when he said that fie ! would pay the money if he got time. i Others present had also complained j about being welshed by accused. AcI cused was wearing the bag. produced. ; the strap heiug round his body. To }lr F.mslic: He believed that ::<- I cused went as a clerk to It. 11. Smith. ! He did not see accused Hearing the I bag before the first race. lie thought I there was a man named Black on the : course at the time. | This concluded the evidence called i bv the prosecution. ! .Mr Kmslie. before calling evidence in j defence submitted that upon tin- law : the case should be dismissed as he coni tended that only a civil contract hail i been made between accused and Brown. which could not form grounds for a I criminal charge. His Worship replied that that de- '. pended on whether he was satisfied that i the accused intended to defraud Brown. i at the time the hot was made, or not. 1 Mv Kmslie said lie would call evidence ': to prove that the bag had not been i given to accused until after the first i race had been run, therefore Brown could not he correct in what he had , said in his evidence. Accused had ' merely gone on the course as clerk to I I?. H! Smith, and he would swear that { he had made no bets with anybody that day. except as K. H. Smith's clerk.

John Laing Smith, bookmaker, said on the Thursday he was clerk to J>. H. Smith, and pencilled some bets lor him on the first race. Only two bets were taken on that race. He was quite sure he had never betted with or even seen Andrew Brown, and did not know him at all. He never issued the ticket produced to Andrew Brown. The hay; produced did not belong to him, but to a i'riond of his who had left it in his custody in Christehureh. Black had come to him and asked for the loan of a bag and witness had told him that if lie took care of it he would lend it to him for the day. After the first race had been run, Black came to him and told him he did not want the bag any more, as he was going to stop betting, so he took it and was going to lay it under the stand with some other gear of his that- was there. He remembered a man coming up and asking for a £'4 dividend, but it was not Brown. He denied that he said he would pay up, when he was in the stewards room as ' the detective had said. He made no bets of any sort that dav.

To Sub-inspector: He neither made any bets nor issued any tickets in anyone's name for he was only clerking. It was after the first race that the bag was given to him by Black. Ho had only 7d on him when arrested. He came on the course with Gs 7d and put the 6s on a horse named Puzzler. He Miad never had a. similar charge against him, but admitted being convicted of theft about two years ago.

To the Bench : He did not make the statement imputed to him by the detective.

H. IT. Smith, bookmaker, said the accused had gone to the course as his clerk. Only two bets had been made by him. One was at-4 to ] against Laghmor, which he lost, and the other at 3 to I against an unplaced horse, which he won. He did not pay .out the £l, because it had never been claimed, but he had deposited Gl with Mr Rothwell so that the client could get his money back if he wanted to. His clerk and he had had a quarrel, because he considered the accused was drunk, and he had given up betting after the first race.

To Sub-inspector Green: Pfe' had never had a bet with Brown. \Y. Black, another bookmaker, identified the bag as one he had borrowed from accused in Christohurch. He had given it back after the first race was over. The tickets produced were his. but he did not. know how they got into circulation.

Thomas Cashion also gave evidence as to seeing accused acting as R. H. Smith's clerk. He appeared to witness to be drunk.

Detective McLeod, recalled, said Messrs El worthy and Grosson were in the room when accused was brought in. He could not say if they would remember anv conversation.

His Worship said he was satisfied from the evidence that the accused had acted fraudulently, and he would be fined £3 or one month's imprisonment, and ordered to refund £1 to Mr Brown. He would allow him a week to find the money.