BENZINE THIEVES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 570, 24 January 1929, Page 1

BENZINE THIEVES

MEN OPERATE WITH LORRY FARMERS ROBBED ISvecial to TUB SUN) NEW PLYMOUTH, Wednesday. Pleading guilty to seven charges of theft of benzine and oil. Jack McDowell appeared in the Police Court to-day. Detective Meiklejohn said that in the day time McDowell went about collecting bottles, bones and sacks, and kept his eyes open for places , where he could steal benzine. He went at night to collect it. The stolen goods were valued at £l2 Bs. For two months accused had had a motor-lorry, and dealt in and around Taranaki. lie was accompanied by another man, at present too ill to appear In court. They had gone about the country and removed quantities of benzine from sheds, garages and stacks on the roadside which had been left for farmers to collect. When Thomas John Withers, a married man with two children, was charged with the theft of cheese valued at £3 3s from the Patua Dairy Company, and two cases of benzine, the detective said these thefts had been brought about through his association with McDowell. McDowell is 31 years of age, and was a seaman and a labourer. The man who operated with him was 19 years of age. The benzine had been used in McDowell’s lorry. McDowell was remanded fot* sentence until Saturday morning, and the case against Withers adjourned pending the receipt of the probation officer’s report.