ROUND-UP IN QUARRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 823, 18 November 1929, Page 1

ROUND-UP IN QUARRY

TWO MEN CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED THEFT COUNCIL MATERIAL REMOVED Two men, Claude Paget and Edward Richard Black, were charged on remand at the Onehunga Police Court this morning before Mr. F. IT. Levien, S.M., with attempting to steal eight water-metres and a quantity of ironwork, valued at. £7, the property of the Manukau County Council. Accused were defended by Mr. Noble. Sergeant B. Thompson, in outlining the case, said that on October 22 one of the council's workmen and accused were in the quarry where the goods hrji been stored in a shed. A motorlorry was outside on the- road and one man was seen carrying a water-meter, which he-immediately dropped on being observed by the police. The iron was part of a stone-crushing plant in the quarry. Evidence was given by Cordon Douglas, a lorry-driver working for the Manukau County Council, who said ho had seen Paget carrying away some of the material, while Black was in the quarry. He could not swear that accused had removed the material. Archibald McDonald, another employee of the council, said that the door of the shed in which the meters were stored was padlocked, but he saw the material lying outside the shed at 1.30 p.m., and noticed that a board had been removed from the wall, and thought that an entrance had been made through the aperture thus formed, through which the belting to the stonecrusher ran. Harold Over said he saw Douglas at 1.35 p.m., who asked him to get the police. He had previously seen Paget hiding in .the .scrub. When he returned With the police Paget was still in hiding and Black was running down the slope of the quarry. He saw a motorlorry nearby, but did not see any of the property in the possession of accused. D. E. fitting, employed by the council, said that there was a lot of waste material on a rubbish dump in the quarry and no objection would be made to anyone removing it. Constable A. E. Hinton said that he and Constables John sen and Walton surrounded the quarry about 2.15 p.m., when they saw Paget carrying one of the water-meters. ITe dronned it beside a number of others at the roadside and ran away. When they arrested him they saw Black running down the slope of the quarry. A sledge-hammer which was found on the rubbish , heap was claimed by Black, who said lie had been breaking up an old stove. The rear numberplate on the lorry had been turned upside-down and where the stonecrusher belting went into the shed they found a board had been broken and the grass trodden down. He had inspected the shed at 11.30 a.m. on the same day, when everything had been in order.

In a statement made by Paget to the police, he said he lived in Cook Street, Auckland, and was engaged buying bottles and old iron. One of the Manukau County Council’s workmen directed him to the rubbish tip. where he and Black proceeded to break up an old stove. While searching the quarry he saw several water-meters lying on the road, but did not know what they were and was carrying one toward his mate to find out what it was. Then the police arrived and he dropped it. Constable Hinton, cross-examined, said the shed had been broken into a week previously, but nothing had been taken then. The theft took place between 11.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m.. Both accused pleaded not guilty and reserved their defence. They were committed for trial. Bail was allowed in £IOO and one surety of £IOO each.