A PREVALENT OFFENCE

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXV, Issue 254, 28 October 1942, Page 4

A PREVALENT OFFENCE

CAR AND CYCLE CONVERSION. SOLDIER HEAVILY FINED. "I would like to stress the fact that at the present time quite a number of complaints are being received of the unlawful conversion of motor-cars and cycles. Invariably they are found in the vicinity of military camps — some of them in ditches, and some of them abandoned in any sort of condition after being used for a time," stated Sergeant P. Alsop in the Blenheim Magistrate's Court this morning when prosecuting a soldier, Jack Stagg. The defendant pleaded guilty to the unlawful conversion on October 11 of a bicycle valued at £5, the property of Norma Doris Emanuel. Sergeant Alsop said that at 1.30 a.m. on October 12 Constables Stables and Wilson had intercepted the accused on the road near his camp. When asked to explain where he ( had got the cycle he was riding he admitted that he had converted it. The machine had been deliberately taken from the rear of the Masonic Hotel, and its loss had caused great inconvenience to its owner. "This type of offence is very prevalent, and we would like a stop to be put to it in some way, added the Sergeant. A fine of £3, with 10s costs, was imposed by Mr T. E. Maunsell, S.M., who allowed the defendant a month in which to find the money.