SELF-HEP SHOPPER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 788, 8 October 1929, Page 18

SELF-HEP SHOPPER

WOMAN FINED £lO EXPENSIVE TOMATO SOUP From Our Own Correspondent WHANGAREI, Monday. A woman who evidently believes in the self-help system of shopping appeared in the Police Court today before Mr. G. N. Morris S.M. and pleaded guilty to stealing a tin of tomato soup a tin of cocoa and a packet of blue from a shop. The police said that after paying for a small purchase the woman was about to leave the shop when the proprietor. Mr. R. T. Tudehop, accosted her, asking what she was carrying in her basket. She replied that there was a tin of tomato soup which she had intended to pay for but had forgotten, the other articles were then discovered. In a statement to the police, who were immediately communicated with, the woman reiterated that it had been her intention to pay for the soup, but that the other things had been given to her by her sister. Counsel made a plea for leniency on account of accused’s age and the fact that she was a member of a much respected family. Counsel submitted that the store encouraged shoplifting by giving baskets to the customers and allowing them to fill them from the shelves, thus saving labour. The magistrate said, shoplifting was a serious offence. It might be true that this was the first case of its kind to come before the Court for a long time, but it had been going on in the town and business people had been unable to sheet it home. Whether the Bargain Stores adopted a system which makes the offence easier should not be considered. Suppression of the name in this case -would be granted, not because defendant belongs to a respectable family, but because it had been done in the case of young women.

Accused was convicted and fined £lO and costs. The magistrate allowed a month for payment.