THREE FARMERS IN COURT

Chronicle (Levin), 13 September 1947, Page 4

THREE FARMERS IN COURT

. - ~iunlawful use of r4ilway tarpaulins alleged . Charged with being unlawfully in possession of tarpaulins, tfie property of the, Zealand Railways • Department, three Opiki farmers, Lieslie George Mpleta, Wijliam Henry' Rolfe Wiison, and Malcolm Edwin Tantrum, were each conyiptqd and fined f5 in the Magistr a"te'S~ Couf t, Levin, yesterday. Costs in each case were 12s. Sergeant W- Grainger stated that pn Jfuly 14 iast Cqnstable Watso'ri," of Sliannon,- in company with the stationmaster, Mr. Craig, had visited the farms of the defendants. On Wilson?s farm were fpund two raifway tarpauiips, which. were being used • fo.r th.e sorting of oniqps. ' Defend'ant admiUed having taken them from the Makerua iailway statipn,- primarily fpr covpring Ips o.nions. Tqntrum was lound to b,e usxng a similar tarpaulin for the covering of a shed.. Hq had stated that the tarpauUn hub been g'iven him by a pprter at the Makerua statipn, two years previously, on loan and had been used in" the 'first' 'instance fpr the povering of o.nipns. He haif not returned it and had later been ashamed to 4° so. He had recently brought" it put and used it as a roo.f for his shed. At the farm pf Moletg, three. tarpa.ulins were discov'ered, defendant stating that he had taken them from the "Tokomaru station for the covering of a quantfty of pni'ons which he was shipping by rail. There was an aeute shortage of tarpaulins- and the Railways Department ' was consequently . greatly inconvenienced, said Sergeant Graingpr.

Appeanpg ior aeienaanr rantrum/ Mr. H. R. Gordpn said that during" the war years, when the Americans were in New Zealand, dnion growing be'came a large industry at Opiki. So anxious was Ihe "Government to secrire adequate supplies, that" it guaranteed the farmers against loss, wh'ile the loan of railway tarpaulins' to growers was thp'n aut'horised.' The offences npw before the court w^ere an outcome of "that custom. The farmers now regarded the use of railway tarpaulins as almost a right. When 'enteri'rig the convictions and fines agaipst defendants, Mr. A. M. Goulding, S.M., said that he would take into cpnsideration a practice that might have grown up during the war. The offences before the coprt, however, were committed long after the period when this liherty was allowed, and he inaintained that the men had no right to' take them and keep them." ' '