Page image
Page image

I.—lα.

72

[W. J. BANNEHB.

204. Is it not the duty of the constable to be on the street at that hour ?— I do not know ; it might have been his duty to be off. 205. If a constable is in uniform is it not his duty to be on that street ? — If he is on his beat, certainly he is. 206. Do you think that after a young fellow has got a smack in the face for his interference that it is a nice thing for him to go home and tell his father ?—I think I adopted the right course. 207. Was it your father who suggested that you should lay the information before the sergeant, or yourself?—l asked him. 208. Was it your father's suggestion or your own ?—I went home to get him to come down to the station. 209. And you suggested it to him ?—Yes. I suggested it was the only thing open for us. 210. Do you not think it would have been better, if your father was a J. P., to have taken you to a J. P. and laid an information against the constable for assaulting you?—We did not deem it so. 211. You went to the station?— Yes. 212. There was nothing at the time you were at the station to stop you going to the sergeant's house?—We did not do so. 213. You say the constables would not allow you?— The constables did not call him. 214. But you could have called him?— Yes, we could have called him. 215. No person stopped you from going to the sergeant's house?— No. 216. You received an apology ?—I did. 217. And you say that it was on that account you did not want to have your name mixed up in any disturbance when starting a new business ? —That is true. 218. As a young man do you not think, if you were perfectly sober and had four or five comrades along with you who could prove you were perfectly sober, that you could have come out of that case all right ?—Yes, I know L could have come out of it all right. It was not of my seeking— that is, the disturbance. I was strictly sober, and the constable must have exceeded his duty. I had the case in my hands, and it might haTje been out of kindness that I did not proceed further. Anyhow, we were satisfied with the apology from the constable. 219. When a young fellow comes across a street and wa.nts to know what the row is, do you not think he is sweating for a beating, like some of my countrymen ? Do you not think you were anxious for a row? —No. I knew a lot of those fellows who were round there. The remark was addressed to the fellows that I saw there. It was not addressed to the constables, anyhow. 220. When you came out of the house you did not know who was there ?—No. 221. You thought you would go and have a bit of a lark?— Yes; it was a very natural thing. 222. When people are in a perfect state of convalescence they like to keep out of rows ? —I did not know then that I was going to get into a row. It was curiosity on my part. 223. You still think you can stand seven glasses of liquor without being drunk?— Yes. 224. You do not drink whisky?—l do not. 225. Was it long beers —threepenny beers ?—lt is threepenny beers over our way. 226. Hon. Mr. Hall-Jones.'] You said to Mr. Herdman that you would swear that you had not had more than seven drinks. You did not mean that you had had seven ?—No. 227. This was on Christmas Eve?—lt was. 228. I suppose on Christmas Eve there are always more people about the streets ?—Yes. 229. You were about the streets for three hours and a half. You were walking up and down the streets on this occasion ?—Yes. 230. And during that time you had these drinks ?—Yes. 231. Mr. Hardy.] Have you read the evidence in connection with yourself?—No, I have not read that. 232. Do you say, then, that there are statements here in this printed evidence which are made by some one else, and which are not correct ? Are there statements in this evidence which are not correct ? —Yes. 233. How much is there that is incorrect? —I cannot tell you straight off. There is something there about being stiff and sore for a week. 234. Hon. Mr. Hall-Jones.] " I could hardly eat anything for a week, owing to the pain in my jaw " ?—That is not correct. 235. Mr. Hardy.] As there are some things in this evidence that are not correct you really think it is unreliable, as far as yourself is concerned ? —Some of it is. 236. Where has this come from : out of your brain, or out of some one else's brains ?—When the Inspector came up to see me I said I did not want to say anything about it, as I had accepted this apology. He said, " I know all about it," and drifted on to a side conversation. I think there were a few little facts of the occurrence I may have dropped. I know I did not make any statement to him. 237. Did he put any leading questions for the sake of drawing you?—lt did not strike me that he was doing so. 238. How is it that he has got some things in this printed evidence that you say are not correct ?—He may have seen some of the others that saw the occurrence and got it from them. 239. Still, you of your own knowledge know that the statements he has made are incorrect ? — I would not say that. 240. I think it is a reasonable and a fair statement for you to make, but I do not think it is reasonable for you to be charged with saying things that did not occur. I think it very manly of you to say there are things in this report that really did not take place ? —That is so. ..41. Things that did not take place: "That I was stiff' and sore, and could hardly eat anything for a week " ? —That is not correct.

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert