THEFT OF OPIUM.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 March 1922, Page 4

THEFT OF OPIUM.

LOSS AT A UNIVERSITY. YOUNG MEN ADMIT CHARGESBy Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington. Last Night. A youth named Charles Aloysios Wilkins, a laboratory assistant at Victoria University, was charged at the Police Court to-day with the theft of opium valued at £5O, the property of the Government, and another, Harold Fairchild Pobar, was charged with receiving. According to the prosecution the Customs Department in 1915 forwarded a quantity of opium to the university for the alkaloids to he extracted for use in military hospitals and hospital ships. Wilkinson had access to the opium, the residue of which had been left in a barrel locked in a storeroom. Accused admitted taking several tins, stating that he heard students say a. lot of money was going to waste. The opium was given to Pobar. who sold it to Chinese, the proceeds being divided. *The police visited the premises of the Chinese who was alleged to be the purchaser. but found nothing. Wilkinson pleaded guilty. Hp said he was seventeen years old. Pobar gave him £3O, a half share of the sales. The actual value of the opium wa? about £4. Pobar also pleaded guLty. Each was committed to the Supremo Court for sentence.