WERAROA ESCAPEES.

Otaki Mail, 8 March 1922, Page 4

WERAROA ESCAPEES.

SENT TO PRISON. At the Palmerston Court on Monday, before Mr Stout, S.M., Robert Curtis Warnock, aged 18, and Norman Paul Nesbitt, aged 17, who absconded from Weraroa Training Farin' last month, were charged with several individual and joint offences. The younger of the two was charged with (1) obtaining goods to the value of £2 2/ from C. M. Ross and Company of Palmerston North on February fB, by means of a false pretence; with the theft id a rug valued at £3 from Levin on February 17; (3) with obtaining by false pretence goods to the value of £1 10/ from Hannah and Co., of Palmerston North; (4) with obtaining articles lrom the same firm at F’eilding, valued at 34/6. They were .both charged wnm converting bicycles, which they took from outside the Palmerston North Catholic Church, to their own use. Warnock was charged with obtaining at Palmerston North on February is, goods to the value- of £2 7/ from Wallenstein Bros. Both the accused were charged with obtaining by false pretence from McGruer and Thompson. Feilding-, goods to - tho value of £ u They pleaded guilty to all these charges. There were also two indictable offences preferred against them, in which they were charged witt theft from the dwellings of Mrs Murphy, of Feilding, of articles of the total value of £5 6/6, and also with breaking, entering and theft from the dwelling of Mrs Simpson, also i . Feilding and stealing valuables to Uivalue of £l3 10/. On these two chut ges evidence was taken, and the accused were committed to the Supienn Court at Wellington for sentence They also pleaded guilty to the las two offences.

The manager of the Weraroa Farm (Mr Maryatt) gave evidence that Wat nock had been committed to the farm in 1016 for theft. Since then his eon duct had been good, and last season lie had been placed at the Glen Orouu Dairy Factory. The manager of Uj factory gave him a good character and stated that he was a good worker and took him back again this seai son. ■ The factory had, however, been j burnt down, and this necessitate ! S Waruock’s return to the farm. Ho ' then became associated with Nesbitt, who bore a had character and he vvai disrated. He evidently took it hard. > and Nesbitt easily persuaded him 'o I run away. The latter liad been dn- ; ’flcult to control all the time he tia i i been on the farm, and had been oe--1 fore Court six or seven times.

His Worship thought that the lads should he placed under strict supervision and given reformative treatment. Invercargill was the most suitable place to put them. Boys were continually breaking away from the Weraroa Farm, and making nuisances of themselves, but this was the worst case he had ever had to deal with. He thought the drapers must have been very gullible to have believed their story. These lads had been given chances before, but they had evidently not wanted to avail themselves of them.

The manager of the farm was of the opinion that reformative treatment would not reform Warnock. If he were returned to the farm it would do him more good. i-iis Worship was of the opinion that the hoys should do a term ol imprisonment. He convicted them on all charges, and for tlie theft of the bicycles they were each sentenced to one mouth’s imprisonment with htu'd labour, the sentences to he concurrent. His Worship declared that he would leave the matter of considering reformative treatment to the Supreme Court, and asked Detective-Sergeant Quirke to inform the Crown Prosecutor as to the attitude the Bench had taken in the matter.