THE LAUNCH RA-ATA.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1922, Page 11

THE LAUNCH RA-ATA.

MORE ABOUT' THE CREW,. . ", ’ LuME PERSONAL HISTORY, Tn connection with the arrest of the members of the crew of the Auckland launch Ra-ata, the Auckland Star sup- ' plies the following particulars about Westlake:— Westlake, one of the members of the crew arrested is believed to be the same Alfred Westlake, a scowman, who in August of 1915 stole a yacht and received five years’ imprisonment for his crime. In June of 1915 he -.and another scowman, William Murphy, were arrested at Onehunga-, when they were in possession of a £3OO auxiliary yacht named Rinaldo, which had been lifted from its moorIngs t n Auckland harbor and subsequently sailed round the North Cape to Onehunga. He was charged . with stealing, prior to the theft of the Rinaldo, a pleasure launch from its moorings in- the harbor. The evidence, -respecting the latter charge --.was that on February 4, 1915, a. pleasure yacht of the type which, had just been . put into the water by Leonard Barker disappeared from its moorings in Hobson Bay. On February 15 the owner went to Mercury Bay and he there saw his boat, which had been repainted, had the name Bona put on. it,, and her registered fishing number. He went aboard the craft, but the person who had sailed it to the wharf had seen him coming and disappeared, leaving a quantity of fish still, in the boat. There were, also some old clothes there in which was found a pocketbook marked, “Westlake, Whitianga, Mercury Bay.” Tn the interim the boat had been used for fishing at Mercury Bay, and .th© man who used it was identified as Westlake. Some time later Westlake called on the ownc of the ’boat, and •asked him to withdraw the charge of theft, stating that he. would pay all expenses, and giving an excuse for his act that he had only intended to use the boat for a little while till he got married, and then return it. Later accused was arrested at Kaikaraka Bay, in the Manukau harbor on the yacht Rinaldo. The evidence respecting the larger yacht was to the effect that'on May 1, a dinghy valued at- £B, which had been left on Sentinel Road beach. Ponsonby, was missing, and the yacht -Rinaldo, valued at £3OO, which had been moored off the Hamilton Road beach, was also gone without the knowledge of the owner, Walter Little Proud. On May 25. Constables Gourlay (now detective) and Thompson arrested the two accused on board the yacht at Onehunga. When asked by the owner why they had taken the boat. Westlake replied that they had &■ look round the harbor and considered his boat the most serviceable for their purpose—fishing—and had consequently taken it. He added that it was their intention to go somewhere about the North Cape, leave the boat there i and get away.

The statement made by Westlake was to the effect that he had become engaged to a young lady at Whitianga, bought the ring) and made arrangements for the marriage, when the girl’s father, in consequence of some rumor about Westlake, suddenly objected to the match. Westlake then went to Gisborne, and when they got word from the girl that the father had changed his mind he returned to Mercury Bay and was told by the father that if he got a fishing boat ami did well the marriage could take place. He hail not enough cash to put down a deposit on the boat on time payment, so he took the first launch with the idea of getting a good haul or two of fish and then returning the boat and buying the boat himself. He explained that to the owner of the Awatere. He had then tried to get a boat from Sanford’s, but found he -could not get one for eix weeks, so he and Murphy agreed to take the loan of another boat in the meantime, and they picked ed on the Rinaldo as best suited for the purpose. They went to Mercury Bay, where the boat got aground, and then on to Whangaruru. round the North Cape and down to Onehunga.

On August 17 Westlake appeared in the Supreme Court at Auckland, when he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and declared an habitual criminal. Tn sentencing the prisoner the Judge remarked that he had carried out a systematic method of stealing boats in a bold and cunning manner.