A PRICK OF CONSCIENCE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 38, 9 January 1945, Page 5

A PRICK OF CONSCIENCE

FORTY-YEAR-OLD THEFT

RESTITUTION FULLY MADE

One of those highly human stories which occasionally come the way of a press* developed in, Whakatane during the Christmas holidays when a startled resident received a very nicely worded letter from, a person he had known over forty years ago, and had now almost forgoitten existed. The letter conn tained a confession and cash amounting, to 27/6 y the price of a bag of floury which the writer had appropriated in the King Country back-blocks some forty years ago and had never paid for. Conscience is a peculiar quantity in all of us_ bult surely here was a record.

The story, according to our informant who handed us the letter -with the request that no names be mentioned commenced in one of the King Country back-blocks j when supplies only arrived once a fortnighty and when any complications in the service of foodstuffs often had very serious consequences. Thus on Christmas Eve 40 years ago in the good old days of pack horses the Whakatane resident, lost a 501b bag of flour from the Waimiha goodshed. The bag had been to all intents and purposes stolen by some person or person unknown, and the loss was a very severe one to the young family in those days of small wages and limited supplies. The letter after nearly half a cencame from the wife of the man (a neighbour) who had stolen the and whose consciencc could not rest until she had confessed the deed, apologised and made full rest'itution. "Somebody lifted ours," ran the letter, "and we were so mad that in turn we took yours. I did not feci that I could send them back to the station with it so I let it go at that and used the llour. 1 am enclosing the sum of; 27/6 in an endeavour to make as far as the money part of it goes. I know I could never have faced you if 1 had not written and confessed and paid up, with this on my conscience. Therefore I have made a clean breast of it and feel that I am now right 'in the sight of my God. Though it has taken many years for me to try and make, amends I feel that it is not too late. I was horrified at the time when I' learnt of ilt, but I was not game enough to face things in those days. Therefore 1 trust you will forgive and forget as I am more sorry than words can tell. Needless to say the folk in Whakatane have written back reassur-

ing the writer of their readiness to accept the explanation and to forget as they had already done the incident that deprived them of their Christmas fare long, long years ago.