Warning To Hotelkeepers.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXIV, Issue 3782, 15 May 1908, Page 2

Warning To Hotelkeepers.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. The licensee of the Lyttelton Hotel has had an unpleasant experience, which shows that it is not always safe to change a £lO note. A man presented a note of that value yesterday at the bar, which the licensee changed, and the man departed. It turned out that the lawful owner had taken the number thereof. The note was identified through this precaution, and was taken possession of by the police when they arrived to make enquiries. The thief was caught, identified, and this morning sent to gaol for six months by Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M., who ordered the note to be returned to the man from whom it had been stolen. The licensee of the hotel remarked that it was very hard upon him to lose the money he had given in change. Mr Bishop agreed. He sympathised with the hotelkeeper, who had acted bona fide, but he held that the note was stolen property, and must be returned to its lawful owner.