THEFT FROM RAILWAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1004, 21 June 1930, Page 1

THEFT FROM RAILWAY

HAMPER OF GOODS ON VIEW IN COURT ] CARRIER’S HOME SEARCHED The witness-box and clerk’s table in the Police Court this morning were littered with clothing when Thomas Stanley, a carrier, was charged with theft. Accused was convicted of stealing goods out of hampers which he handled for the Railway Department and was remanded for sentence. When his house was searched, coats with the labels torn out were discovered, but accused explained that they had been removed for the benefit of his son who was an enthusiastic competitor in a competition for a collection of the labels and trade marks on New Zea-land-made goods. Stanley was charged with the theft of two caps from the Kaiapoi Woollen Coy. on January 12. Mr. Singer entered a plea of not guilty. Samuel Taylor, a departmental manager employed by the Kaiapoi Woollen Coy., said the caps had been packed in a hamper and dispatched to the Waikato traveller on January 11. When the hamper came back to Auckland the caps were missing. Witness was strongly of the opinion that the caps produced were identical with those missing from the hamper. They could not be bought elsewhere. Chief-Detective Hammond-delved in a large hamper and produced goods which -he handed to witness. There were coats with the name-tags torn OLit; a rug with the brand torn off; clothes that had been altered to fit. Witness said some of the goods were made by the Kaiapoi Woollen Coy. and some were the products of English firms. Witness had been 25 years in the employ of the Kaiapoi Woollen Coy. Mr. Singer urged the irrelevance of evidence relating to all the goods the chief-detective had produced. Accused was charged with the theft of two caps only. Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M.: You need not worry. Mr. Singer. I’ll watch that. Mr. Singer: Yes, but I don’t want your Worship to waste your time. HAD BEEN IN HAMPER Harold Johnson, the Kaiapoi Woollen Coy’s traveller in the Waikato, said the two caps had been in the hamper when I it was railed back to Auckland. A hand could be inserted under th« lid of I the hamper and goods removed, witness i added. Further evidence was to the effect that Stanley had been in the employ of the Railway Department for 17 years and had lately started on his own as a carrier. Tie was at the yards practically every day transhipping goods. Detective-Sergeant Martin said all the goods produced in court had been found when accused’s house was searched. Accused had said they were bought at different shops. The catfs were found in a cupboard in the diningroom. Stanley could not remember at what shop he bought them. Mr. Singer assured the court that Stanley was a man with an unblemished record. Counsel put the man in the witness-box, where he said the caps had been given him by Cornwell who was recently convicted of thefts from the railway goods sheds. “I did not question Cornwell when he gave me the caps which he said were a present,” Stanley added. Accused said some of the clothing produced was the property of his son, aged 17 years. One of the overcoats that had been altered was the youth’s property and. accused knew nothing of it, not having bought it. Similarly, accused had not bought any of the women’s clothing, which was his wife’s. The reason for some of the brands being cut out was that accused’s other son, aged 13, was collecting New Zealand labels and trade marks for a competition. Accused was convicted and remanded until Wednesday for sentence. Mr. Singer again urged the irrelevancy of statements about goods other than wi,? aPS L Accused had given perfectly good reasons for having them in thnt h +t, USS and there was no evidence that they were stolen.