MAGISTRATE’S COURT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 121, 23 May 1944, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

BIISCELLANEOUS CASES AT WANGANUI “It is quite clear that defendant must have taken the corner too sharply, but such negligence as there was, was due mostly to being unfamiliar with the locality,” said Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., when William Albert Lane, quarry manager, of Manawatu, appeared in the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court yesterday, charged with driving a motor vehicle in Ingestre Street, on April 19, without due care and attention. Defendant was fined £2 (16s costs). Senior-Sergeant F. Culloty conducted the case for the police, and Lane appeared on his own behalf. ADJOURNED SINE DIE. Charged with using petrol for transporting horses more than 30 miles and other than for agricultural purposes, William Eva, racehorse trainer, of New Plymouth, appeared in the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court yesterday. After hearing evidence by the Transport Department, Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., agreed to the case being adjourned sine die till decisions in similar cases heard elsewhere are known. I T NLAWFI L POSSESSION OF LIQUOR. For being in possession of liquor, supplied by some person unknown, a Maori, Aitu Huatahi Raloia, was convicted and fined £2 (costs 10s). SeniorSergeant Culloty, who appeared for the police, said that accused was found in the Metropolitan Hotel by Sergeant Bennington with a b’ottle of beer in bis possession. When questined, Ratoia said that he had been supplied with the liquor at Patea and was taking it back there. THEFT OF PETROL. Charged with the theft of one gallon of petrol, the property of T. A. J. Winwood, Keith Alexander' Harrison, Patapu Street, Wanganui East, was convicted and fined £5 (costs 10s). Senior-Sergeant Culloty, for the police, said that Harrison admitted taking about half a gallon of petrol, but said he did not intend stealing it. WORE MILITARY UNIFORM A fine of £5 was imposed on James Edward Scott, Pehi Street, Wanganui East, when he appeared before the Court on a charge that, without lawful authority, he wore a military uniform, the property of Maurice Warahi, contrary to Section 5 of the Uniform and Badges Emergency Regulations. Senior-Sergeant Culloty said that accused was found by Sergeant Dixon, of the military police, wearing the uniform about the city, and that he went to work with it on, Accused, when interviewed, said that he had borrowed the uniform to go to a dance at the Druids’ Hall. For supplying a military uniform to James Edward Scott without written or competent authority, Maurice Warahi pleaded guilty, and was fined £5. THEFT OF MONEY William Wilson, a Maori, aged 19 years, of Kauangaroa, was charged with that, on May 15, he stole £l5 in money, the property of Charlotte Helen Fisher, and further, that, on the same day, he stole £1 from the same complainant. Accused was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on the first charge, and one month on the second charge, the sentences to be concurrent. The facts, stated by Senior-Sergeant Culloty, were that, accused was staying at a boarding house, of which complainant is the proprietress. At the flats he met another youth, Vivian Matthews, a half-caste Maori, of Kauangaroa. On the date previous to the theft, Matthews had told accused that he was going to Marton the next day and was to drive Miss Fisher there. Accused, knowing that Miss Fisher was absent from the flats at mid-day, got in through a front window of her bedroom. He took the money, a £lO note and a £5 note, from a cash box in the wardrobe of her room. The same day, at about 9 p.m., he entered the complainant’s bedroom while she was away on duty at the hospital, and found a £1 note in the drawer of a dressing table. In a statement to Constable Hudson, on April 16, the date of his arrest, accused stated that Matthews had given him the key to Miss Fisher’s room and told him where the cash was kept. Accused and Matthews, according to the former’s statement, had spent the money at a drinking party.