ALLEGED LETTER DETENTION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 203, 24 February 1912, Page 2

ALLEGED LETTER DETENTION

ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. Part of the morning and the whola of | the afternoon yesterday was taken up in the Magistrate's Court, before Mr. A. Crooke, S.M., in the hearing of the case in which Thomas Francis John McMillan appeared on remand in answer to a charge of unlawfully detaining a postal packet at New Plymouth. Mr. C. H. Weston conducted the case for.the postal authorities, and accused was defended by Mr. J. H. Quilliam. In outlining the case the prosecuting counsel said that on November 16 last an elderly man named Robert McMillan, resident in Bulkley Terrace, went away on a holiday, but before doing so he notified the postal authorities that any letters that came for him during his absence were to be kept at the Post Office, pending his return. The following day several letters arrived, addressed to McMillan. Accused, T. P. J. McMillan, was at that time in the employ of Boon Bros., and some two or three weeks before the 16th he got on friendly terms with one of the clerks in the post office. Another clerk (a witness in the case) was prepared to swear that on Saturday, December 2, accused, whom he knew by sight but not by name, asked him over the counter for any letter for Mr. McMillan, of Bulkley Terrace, as he had been away for a week or so. The letters were handed to him. Subsequently Robert McMillan returned from his holiday, and on December 4 asked for letters, which, however, were not there. Accused was several times communicated with and asked to return the letters given to him in mistake, but on each occasion he denied any knowledge of them, but stated it was possible a brother of his (whom counsel alleged could not be traced) had called for the'letters. The first witness called was A. R. J. Parker, letter-carrier stationed at New Plymouth, and he said there was only one McMillan living in Bulkley Terrace, in the person of Mr. R. McMillan, who, in November last, was away from home. Two letters which arrived" for him the morning after he left were returned by witness to the counter at the P.O. and marked "window."

Cross-examined by Mr. Quilliam, Par- j ker said the second letters .came on the Kith or 17th December. He did not know j whether either of the letters came from. Sometimes some of his letters were addressed "Mr. McMillan," without the initial, while others would be marked "Mr. R.," or ''Eobert McMillan, New Plymouth." He was certain that no letters ! ever came to McMillan, addressed to any street other than Bulkley terrace. j Mr. Quilliam: Did you ever deliver) any letters addressed to McMillan, Hine street? Witness: Yes. Counsel: Why, you just told the Court you did not. { His Worsliip: Do you remember how those two particular letters on the 16th or 17th November were addressed? Witness replied in the negative. L. 11. Pepperill, telegraph clerk in New Plymouth Post Office, deposed to having first become acquainted with the accused ] about October 26 or 27 last. On about j two occasions accused asked witness to see if there were any letters for himNone were addressed to him. • To Mr. Quilliam: He did not suggest that accused came to the Post Office and attempted to worm himself into his confidence. Evidence was given by L. P. Brabant, , postal clerk stationed at New Plymouth to the effect that he had come to know accused by sight through having seen him visit Pepperell. He did not know him by name; neither did he know Robert McMillan by sight on December t. On the afternoon of that day, some time after 3.30, a man (accused) came to the counter and asked, "Are there any letters for McMillan, Bulkley Terrace ? We have been away for a week or so." Witness then took four or five letters out of the letter box and handed them to him. Accused then left the counter. Mr. Lithburg was in the office with him at the time. When accused came in he recognised him as the man who had been to see Pepperell. There were three or four of the letters endorsed "window." There were no other letters in the box addressed to any other McMillan. It was a very uncommon name in New Ply- | mouth. Later on, when the real Robert McMillan turned up) witness found out the address of accused and got into touch with him. McMillan, however, denied any knowledge of the letters, but said that his brother might be in town from Waitara on a certain day, and he I would bring him along to the Post Office i to see if it was possibly he who had re- | ceived the letters. The brother did not j eventuate, however.

In the course of his cross-examiaation by Mr. Quilliam, witness said the letters were in the office about a week. It would have been gross carelessness for him to have delivered letters if the person had not asked for letters addressed

to "McMillan, Bulkley Terrace." Eric Lightburn, cadet at the Post Office, recollected someone eoming in one afternoon close to the general election and asking for and receiving letters for "McMillan, Bulkley Terrace." He did not take any notice of the man. Cross-examined by Mr. Quilliam, he said he had no recollection of any other person calling in that day and 'asking for letters. Mary Ann Smith said accused had been a lodger at her house, and that on December 7 he left a note, signed Frank McMillan, stating that he had gone into the country to do a private job, and might be in town the following Saturday afternoon. Witness was not to say to anyene that he had gone. That was the last she had seen of him. To Mr. Quilliam: She knew certain people wished to see him about money matters. Another witness, a retired farmer named Robert McMillan, whom it is alleged the letters in question never reached, said that on the occasion of his going away last November he had not given anybody authority to get his letters. He had never seen accused. During his absence he had expected letters about business or money matters to arrive at New Plymouth. To Mr. Quilliam: No one had written to him since his return to the effect that they had written to him and received no answer. Giving evidence, the accused (McMillan) said that towards the end of November he was employed on a building being erected at Bell Block for Boon Bros. H« had no recollection of receiving letters on December 2, or of asking for any addressed to McMillan, Bulkley terrace, of which street he had never heard. His letters were usually addressed "Thomas" or "T. F. McMillan," care of Post Office. At the time of the alleged offence he ivas engaged to be married, and naturally recsived and expected many letters. He had received notes and had spoken over the telephone to the postal officials in regard to the letters which they wrongly alleged he had .taken. He admitted frequently calling for letters at New Plymouth, at which town he had resided for three months. He was married on December 8, and on Deeember 14 he went with his wife to Wellington. Later he went to Christchurch, Later he returned'to New Plymouth, staying a week or more at Wellington. Ho reached New Plymouth last Saturday, and on the following Sunday

night was arrested while staying at the Coffee Palace with his wife. In summing up, Mr. Quilliam held that the prosecution had failed to make out a prima facie case. In a word, the whole case depended on the evidence of Brabant, whom counsel held was under a misapprehension. There was no suggestion that there was anything of value in the letters, and besides, by what possible means could a stranger, who had not even heard of Bulkley terrace, get hold of Kobert McMillan's address, and the fact that letters were awaiting him at the Post Office. In aay case it was out of all reason to suppose that even if he got the letters he would not have returned them after the repeated warnings and chances given to him by the postal authorities to do so. Besides, it was possible that the letters had been returned to the Post Office by the let-ter-carrier and later on delivered to their rightful owner, for no trace of any letters having been mis»od by him could be found. Accused, who pleaded not guilty, was committed for trial at the Supreme Court at New Plymouth on March 5.