"NEW YEAR PRANK"

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 23, 28 January 1938, Page 11

"NEW YEAR PRANK"

SHIPBOARD EPISODE

OFFICER'S COAT TAKEN

Members of a travelling cricket team appeared in the Magistrate's Court today, before :tr'. J. H. Luxford,. S.M., facing a charge.arising out of events which occurred on board the s.s. Rangatira at sea on New Year's Eve. Cornelius O'Hallbran and William Calver Crisp were charged with the theft of a uniform valued at £7 7s, the property of Louis Adrian Hudson, radio operator on the Rangatira, but after the hearing the Magistrate dismissed the charge as trivial, conditional on the payment of witnesses' expenses by'the accused. Both pleaded not guilty.

Detective-Sergeant P. Doyle prosecuted, and Mr, R. E. Pope appeared for the accused. .'■'.'

"On December 31," said . DetectiveSergeant Doyle, "the two accused were passengers by the Rangatira from Wellington to Lyttelton. They Were members of a cricket team on their way to Christchurch to play a game there." They occupied a cabin with two other members of the team, said DetectiveSergeant Doyle, and soon after leaving Wellington the accused visited the ship's bar and consumed a quantity of liquor, becoming \more or- less intoxicated. They met a friend, and,accompanied him-tb the wireless room, as he wanted to send a telegram to his father. The.operator's coat vi. hanging on a peg inside the door, and while he was engaged O'Halloran took the coat from .the cabin. "They; took it down to the cabin where'another passenger, Mr. Foley, was nv.bed,: and, waking tip with the noise, discovered them putting the coat into his*psuitcase. He objected, and the coat was taken out again. ■ : ■■:^"-,:-, ;,,:.; Both were still under the influence of liquor when they left the steamer, and they tossed to see, who- should take the coat. Crisp took: it ashore, and •O'Halloran took it to ; Cliristchurch, leaving it-With friends^. The matter was > reported to the ''{-.. -police;: and -Detective' G. Hpgariinterviewed the accused, who -made ah, explanation on the lines indicated' to "the Court. Later O'Halloran communicated with .the people, in Christcljurch, and the coat was. returned undamaged -, to the Union; Company. 'The whole episode, said Detective-Sergeant Doyle, might be regarded as a drunken prank. Evidence was given by,the radio operator, and by' another member of the team, who shared the cabin with the accused and another passenger. Mr. Pope said it was perhaps unfortunate that the cricket trip took place over New Year. No doubt both men, during the course, of the trip, drank excessively, and the next day, at any rate during the early part of the morning, wera somewhat fuddled. It was a foolish escapade, and the circumstances were a little unusual. There was never any intention to retain the coat. Prior to the interview with Detective Hogan a letter had been written to the people concerned in Christchurch, reminding them to return the coat .to the Union Steam Ship Company. ■ . . . Mr. Luxford refused an application for the suppression of the names of the accused. He was satisfied, he said, that there was no real intention to retain the coat permanently, but a cricket team' should play the game when it was travelling just asjt was expected to do; on the field.