TWO CLAIMANTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1052, 16 August 1930, Page 16

TWO CLAIMANTS

OWNERSHIP OF ARTICLES SEIZED BY POLICE

THEFT CHARGE SEQUEL

The ownership of a number of articles of apparel which were seized by the police during the execution of a search warrant at the home of Thomas Stanley, a carrier, was arguerl at the Police Court yesterday afternoon, before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M. Stanley was convicted of the theft of two caps, valued at Ts, on June 22, and Detective-Sergeant Martin applied for an order under the Police Force Act, 1913, for the distribution of the goods produced in court, which had been found in Stanley’s home. Tho Railway Department, from which it was alleged the goods had been stolen, and Stanley, who claimed that the articles of clothing were his own, were the two claimants. RETURN OF GOODS Mr. Singer, who appeared for Stanley, said he was making application for the return of the goods, which were illegally produced in court when Stanley was convicted of the theft of two caps. “He was not convicted in connection with these articles,” said Mr. Singer. "The conviction was for the theft of two caps only. There is no police evidence to show that these goods were stolen." John Henry Colthurst, a railway inspector, said his department had received a number of claims for similar articles which had been missed from travellers’ cases In tho inward goods shed. Samuel Taylor, a departmental manager for the Kaiapoi Woollen Co., said that similar goods, which were stocked by his firm, had been missing from samples which had been

broken into within the past eight or nine months between Paeroa and Auckland.

Mr. Singer argued that tho Railway Department had failed to show that the goods in court were the goods missing. The fact that similar goods were missing could not affect the question. "The Railway Department says that similar goods have been missing,” said Mr. Hunt. “Another man says his firm has lost such goods. I am going to hand them over to the Railway Department, and if the owners are not found Stanley can apply for them. I do not believe one word of Stanley's st.ftry. The magistrate then ordered the goods to be handed to the Railway Department.