THEFT OF PAPER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 August 1939, Page 6

THEFT OF PAPER

FROM PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

CARPENTER SENT JO GAOL. LOOSE PRACTICE ALLEGED BY COUNSEL. (By Telegraph—Press WELLINGTON, This Day. If statements made by counsel were correct, it was time things in the Public Works Department were straightened up, said Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., after Mr C. J. O’Regan, who appeared for William Walter Gordon, had described how “smalls” left over from jobs were frequently not returned to the supply stores. Gordon, a carpenter, aged 28, pleaded guilty to the theft at Fordell. Tin March, of about 1,900 square feet of building paper, valued at £3 Ils 3d and was sentenced to a month's imprisonment with hard labour. The police stated that the paper was left over from paper given to accused to line single and married men’s quarters. He sold 1,500 feet at Petone for £2. When inquiries were made, it was found that 100 feet had been used. Accused, it was stated, had been before the Supreme Court on May 16 for the theft of union funds, and it was while he was out on bail that this particular offence occurred.

Mr O’Regan said the facts as outlined required some amplification. Accused genuinely believed that he had some colour of right for taking the paper. In a department such as the Public Works Department it inevitably happened that the exact quantities of material for jobs were not issued and a position had arisen that “smalls" were not always returned. . The magistrate: “It seems that it is time things were straightened up. considering the wages these men are getO’Regan said he understood that frequently small pieces of material were taken away by the men. "Because other people are dishonest, does it mean that your client is entitled to be dishonest?” asked the magistrate. -