From Our Files: Unfortunate run-in...Forest feeding by-law...soldier’s yacht theft
50 YEARS AGO
A 30-YEAR-OLD Indian pedlar was warned not to tell fortunes by a judge at Southampton Crown Court. The man had pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a woman in Hythe in December.
No evidence was offered by the prosecution, and he was found not guilty. He agreed to be bound over in the sum of £40 to keep the peace for three years.
The complaint arose from two ladies being given the opportunity to have their fortunes told.
The prosecutor told the judge “That type of conduct could obviously lead to complaints of the type which have arisen in this case.”
Judge AM Lee QC told the defendant: “It is important to realise he has been found not guilty but it would appear from the statements of these witnesses that he was on this occasion following the practice of telling fortunes and this practice may well lead to difficulties and therefore the court is anxious that he no longer tells fortunes when going from house to house.”
It was in order to stop this practice that he was being bound over.
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A POLICE car on its way to an accident on the Burley to Holmsley Road at Durrant Corner ended up crashing itself when it left the road at Broad Oak Bend.
The Morris Marina skidded off the road and ended up capsizing. This and the other vehicle involved in the accident it was attending are now the sixth and seventh cars to have “capsized” on the road since it was the subject of attention by Hampshire County Council.
The council said it is investigating the accident and whether it needs to add an anti-skid surface to the road.
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HAMPSHIRE School Meals Service is to carry out trials with the use of textured vegetable protein in school dinners in several areas of the county during the next few months.
The inclusion of this new form of a very old high protein vegetable food has been allowed after extensive testing sessions when it was found people consuming dishes made with it could not say for certain whether or not the various dishes contained the vegetable protein.
At present in the United Kingdom the new vegetable protein foods derive mainly from the soya beans and are making an impact on the catering industry.
It is usual to limit the use of the textured protein to no more than 30 per cent in 70 per cent meat to keep costs down.
No school dinners will contain the substitute until head teachers have been given the necessary information regarding the “new food.” No long-term toxic hazard was detected in any of the new vegetable protein products tested.
25 YEARS AGO
"They all smelt of bananas!" said members of Lymington Historical Society who, as the A&T reported last week, had to search through piles of rubbish at Efford tip to find hundreds of documents that had been dumped by Lymington's vicar. He had decided to clear out the vicarage without realising the files and bundles of papers were, in fact, vital parish records going back hundreds of years. Members of the society had been spending hours at the dump to find the papers. One said: "It's a dirty job but someone has got to do it!"
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A WOMAN who said she had “learnt her lesson” while on remand in Holloway jail was given a suspended sentence by Lymington magistrates.
The woman said she knew she had “done some awful things” and was “very sorry”. She added that during three weeks in Holloway she had had no liquor and few cigarettes and had not missed either particularly.
She said she had “now got a grip” on herself and wanted to earn some money “to clear up the muddle”.
The woman had pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining goods by deception by means of worthless cheques and asked for ten other offences to be taken into consideration.
Magistrates said they had been minded to send her back to prison but herself having raised the question of liquor he thought she would have to make every possible effort to do without it because it was part of the reason for her trouble.
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NEW Forest Verderers announced that they are seeking Ministry confirmation of a by-law to prohibit people feeding animals which are at large on the Forest if they are within 50 yards of the edge of a public carriageway.
The official verderer Col JB Scott making the announcement said they had given the matter very careful consideration and had taken into account that there was a great deal of public feeling that some such by-law should be passed.
“We feel that if it will in any way protect the public and the ponies it is something we should do,” he said.
Mr Gerald Forward raised a question as to owners of animals feeding them on the Forest in severe weather.
“I am quite certain about feeding animals in the snow.”
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A 19-YEAR-OLD absentee from the Army told Lymington magistrates that he stole a £600 yacht because he “wanted to get away from it all”.
The teenager said: “I was not getting on in the Army. Everything I did seemed to be wrong and I wanted to get away from it all.”
The soldier pleaded guilty to stealing the four ton yacht from Keyhaven. He also stole a wireless set, a teapot, a butter dish, a bottle of sherry and four bottles of beer from the boat.
He sailed the yacht to Beaulieu River where he was later found asleep on it by a policeman. The teenager was put on probation for two years, and magistrates said they hope he fared better in the Army from now on.
