YOUNG MAN'S LAPSE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 207, 21 January 1913, Page 3

YOUNG MAN'S LAPSE.

A FOOJ Is:i IDEA. A young man r.»:iW '.Yi.'Ut Sparworth was arranged in the .Magistrate'* Court yesterday <>» a charge of. the theft of two mirrors and a bookcase valued at £3 3s Gd, the property of the Red Post Furnishing Company. ' The accused, who was defended by Mr. J. 11. Quilliam, pleaded guilty. According to counsel, the accused had had no criminal intent. He was in the employ of the prosecuting company and had put in a considerable amount of overtime for which he never charged. The mirror was part of some furniture which had been burnt and thrown nvton to the rubbish heap and after it hail been there some montlu it liad been r. *• cuctl by the accused, w.'j had renovated it in his own time. The bookcases had been made by the company's workmen Under instructions from Sparworth from odds and ends and waste timber, and were not anything like the value .set out in the information. They were taken home by the accused without any concealment and used as furnishings in his own house. Sparworth was a first-class workman and had cut down the working expenses of his employers very considerably. The offence was the outcome of the erroneous impression under which the accused had labored, that in view of the fact that he was saving his employers money he was entitled to some benefit, in the shape of the small articles of furniture. Counsel submitted testimonials to show that this was the accused's first lapse and that hitherto he had borne an excellent character.

The police also testified that Sparworth had always enjoyed an excellent character, and taking all thd circumstances into consideration the Magistrate (Mr. A. Crooke, S.M.) did not impose imprisonment, merely inflicting a fine of £3. Default was fixed at one month's imprisonment.