MAGISTRATE'S COURT-TE AWAMUTU.

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 8, 12 May 1911, Page 3

MAGISTRATE'S COURT-TE AWAMUTU.

(Before F. O'B. Loughnan, Esq,, S.M.) •■-■ FRIDAY, MAY I2TH, 1911. CIVIL CASES. Waipa Brewery Ltd. v. H. Cooper, claim.£6 17s 7d. Judgment for amount and costs 18s 6d. G. M. Ahier.v. H. Lomax, claim £lO 2s. Judgment for amount and costs £l ms 6d. CRIMINAL BUSINESS. : F. Garrard was charged by the police with procuring liquor at Kihi Kihi during the currency."of a prohibition order. The accused pleaded guilty. ■ In connection with this charge a second party named Donnelly was charged with procuring liquor for the accused, to which he pleaded riot guilty. .Constable: McCarthy gave evidence as to being;•called to the house of the accused on the evening in question-. / On; arrival he found Garrard,very much intoxicated, and a, whisky --bottle (produced) at his side. Donnelly was also in the house on" his arrival, and he had every'reason to believe that it was by means of him that the liquor was procured. Donnelly then <made a statement to the effect of having procured the liquor for' his fown use. He. lived with Garrard, and. naturally, had' the liquor at his home. Itappears that the two accused were skylarking, and one of Garrard's daughters, thinking they ..were quarrelling, went for the police. On this subject, when questioned by the Bench, it was admitted that the skylarking was the.result of drunkenness, and it was probably more because of the intoxication that the police were summoned. After summing up, the Magistrate convicted aud fined Donnelly, £lO and costs £1 3s, and Garrard £2 and costs 7s. A native named Kohemata was charged with leaving a horse unattended whilst it was suffering from a broken shoulder. The police stated that in some manner the horse came to grief while the accused was riding to attend the sports at Kihi Kihi. It was a common thing for horses belonging to the natives at Parawera to suffer in this manner, and the animals were left to wander about until reported to the police. P. Bennett gave evidence as to finding the horse.' It appeared to be in great pain, and was subsequently shot by the accused. Constable McCarthy, sworn, stated that the matter was reported to him on the sports ground, and on making enquiries found that the accused was the owner of the horse, and told him: to remove it. As the accused left the ground he concluded that he had gone to act as requested, but on riding past next clay saw that, apart from shooting the beast, nothing had been done. Tati stated that the accused was in his employ. The trouble was due to another horse which was being driven going to one side, and the road being slippery, the other horse fell and sustained injury to his shoulder. As the beast had been left to suffer from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. on the following clay, it war a most inhuman action, but, considering the age of the accused, the Magistrate dealt as leniently as possible, and convicted arid fined him 20s and costs £2 2s. LICENSING COURT.

W. G. Abbott, of the Commercial Hotel, and J. Jackson, of the Te Awamutu Hotel, were charged with supplying liquor to a youth named Eric Jack, who was under the age of 21 years., Both the

accused, for whom Mr E. A. Cox appeared, pleaded not guilty. In connection with the above charges, the said Eric Jack was charged with committing a breach of the Licensing Act by procuring liquor while under 21 years of age, to which he also pleaded not guilty. Eric Jack, sworn, stated that he was in Jackson's Hotel on the nth inst. with a friend, and after having a drink had a dispute with the proprietor as to the correct amount of change. After that he went to the Commercial Hotel with three friends. Did not remember who served him. He knew both the barman and Mr Abbott by sight, but was sure neither of them challenged him as to his age. The only mention of his age-was made by Mr Abbott some time afterwards, but r either on that nor on former occasions had he been questioned oh the matter. At the time of the trouble he was in the employ of the Waipa Brewery, and was drawing a man's salary, therefore the firm must have considered him to be over age. It was not until;l3th March that Mr Abbott had questioned him, but he (accused) did not say anything about it being bad luck. Further, he did not know he was running any risk by entering the hotel; he had never seen any cards warning youths. He had certainly heard the matter spoken of, but had never been asked his age or warned in any way. Constable Lander gave evidence as to the charges now made. In answer to Mr Cox, he stated that both the hotels in question were in his opinion well-con-ducted houses, but he personally would not consider the accused over .21. Mr Abbott stated, when the matter was mentioned, that he had challenged the youth, and received a reply to the effect that he (accused) was over 21 years of age. Mr Jackson had no recollection of the transaction.

Mr J. G. Elmsly, of Kihi Kihi, stated that the accused Eric Jack was at present in his employ. ■He had never questioned his age, as he had considered him over 21 and was very surprised to hear that he was only .19. ""Mf.'S. A. Empson, dentist, of Te Awamutu, sai^ 1 from what he had seen of the accused, he had concluc'ed he was considerably pver 21....... . ...Similar evidence was also given by others. . N. Wicks, secretary of the Waipa Brewery Ltd., said he had never entered the accused's age in'the wages book as required by the Factories Act, as he had considered it unnecessary. Jack certainly appeared to be over 21, otherwise he would not have received men's wages. (Left Sitting.)