PROBATION REFUSED

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 37, 13 August 1919, Page 7

PROBATION REFUSED

A young man named Charles Fredericß Butler was brought before, Mr.- E. Page, S.M.. at the Magistrate's Court this morning, to'answer th»ee charges of theft. • Mounted Constable Hall said that ne had interviewed the accused with regard to the charges, and had obtained statements to the effect that Butler, who had been staying at the Hotel Bristol, had stolen a watch and chain, valued at £3 10s, the property of some unknown> person j also an overcoat, valued at £5, the property of Herbert'Everett, and £2 10s in money, which he took from the pocket of a coat belonging to John Muir, a porter at the hotel. When 'asked to plead/ Butler replied: "Guilty," and requested that he should ba placed on probation, as he had not previously been in trouble. The Magistrate inquired of ActingSubrlnspector Emerson whether the police knew of anything 7^ against the young man prior to the present lapse. Mr. "Emerson replied that Butler had been employed as a carter in Wellington, but lately had been out of work, and no doubt that had caused him to tset about obtaining money by dishonest means. Nothing was previously known against the young man. Mr. Page said that he could not admit the accused on probation, .as a series of thefts had been committed, extending over a period of several days. A sentence of fourteen days' imprisonment would be imposed on each charge, the terms to run concurrently.