STOLE GAS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 566, 19 January 1929, Page 6

STOLE GAS

£4 FINE IMPOSED RESTITUTION ORDERED John E. Copas was found guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday of the theft of 17s 10d worth of gas from the Auckland Gas Company. Lons evidence was heard by Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M. He fined Copas £4, and ordered him to make restitution to the amount of 17s lOd to the company. “And I do not think that is an overestimate,” Mr. McKean said. According to William Vaughan, an employee of the company, Mrs. Copas did not appear at all anxious to admit him when he called to inspect the meters on November 27. He discovered when he opened the cupboard where two meters were housed that one had been disconnected. A connection had been made from the supply pipe down through the floor. In the basement witness found a gas ring and two lights, which were undoubtedly fed from the line which passed direct to the supply cutting out the meter. “Mrs. Copas asked me to return later,” continued Mr.' Vaughan, “and suggested that her husband could explain everything. She asked me to give him a chance. I went out and rang the office for an inspector to come out to the house, which was in Leslie Avenue, off Edendale Road.” On the way back to the house with the inspector he met Mr. Copas, who nodded to him. They arrived at the house, and found everything in order and the meter connected up. There were signs that a tool had been used recently on the soft brass, and this fact was corroborated by the evidence of other gas company employees. Mr. Glaister, who appeared for Copas, said that the Gas Company was unable to prove that any gas was stolen, the amount of 17s lOd being admittedly made up by a calculation based on what had been the approximate consumption in the past. An apprentice, employed with Copas, said that Copas had not left the shop where he worked in Ponsonby at the time he was supposed to have been seen in Edendale by Mr. Vaughan.

“Absolutely never,” said Copas from the box, when asked if he had interfered with the gas supply. He denied making alterations to the meter.