PUBLIC PROPERTY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 60, 8 September 1926, Page 10

PUBLIC PROPERTY

MUST BE PROTECTED.

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. "These men are custodians of public property, and that must be protected," said Mr. Lawry, S.M., when dealing with two railway employees, who were charged with the theft of oranges. The accused i were Eobert Dey and > William James Pratt. Both pleaded guilty. Dey was charged with stealing oranges to the value of 9d and Pratt was charged with stealing oranges to the value of 2s, the property of the Government. Chief Detective Gibson said that the two accused were caught with the oranges in their possessions A case was found broken on a truck', and they admitted having taken the fruit, though they denied breaking the case. Both were married men and had families. Neither had been in trouble before. It was a common offence and difficult to detect. Mr. Hall, who represented Pratt, said that th.c case was lying open, and the men simply took some fruit. Pratt had a clean record, and had been with the Department for sixteen years. Dey, pleading for leniency, said that he had lost his position. ' The Chief Detective said that nothinß was known against the men, but he lvaa instructed to emphasise the point that such thefis were h^coinii;'; too IYei(iiont. "Tho public has to rely on tlioir honesty," aaid Mr. Lowry. "These are really more serious than ordinary thefts." Each of the accused was fined £2. An application for the suppression of Pratl'a name was refused.