"NOT BAD THEFT"

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 794, 15 October 1929, Page 11

"NOT BAD THEFT"

TWO MEN ADMITTED TO PROBATION STOLE COPPER CABLE Described by Mr. Inder as "Not bad types of theft,*’ two charges of stealing copper cable were preferred against Leonard Parks and Alioueu Allan Gibson at the Police Court this morning. Both accused were admitted to probation. Parks, aged 34. and Gibson, aged 3S, both engineers, appeared for sentence. having already pleaded guilty to two charges of stealing copper wire valued at <£32, the property of persons unknown. The offences were said to have been committed at Ngaruawahia early in October. Chief-Detective Hammond said that the wire, which apparently belonged to the Post and Telegraph Department, had not been missed by the department. There was £l6 6s restitution to be made to the dealer who had bought the cable. Parks had once previously been convicted of theft. Mr. Inder pointed out that Parks’s previous conviction had beeu recorded in 1916. The man was badly wounded in the war and had suffered IS operations since 1920. The two accused had found the wire on the road and apparently the owners had thought so little of it that they did not even know that it was stolen. Both men had work to go to if they were given a chance, and, as they were going to widely separated parts of the North Island, there would be no fear of them being together again. The terms of probation for both men-were fixed at two years and restitution of £l6 6s was ordered.