THEFT OF BICYCLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1942, Page 2

THEFT OF BICYCLES

MAGISTRATE ISSUES WARNING GAOL. FOR OFFENDERS. EVEN ON CONVERSION CHARGES. A stern warning that persons coming before the Court on chaiges of stealing or converting bicycles would be sent to gaol was given in the Magistrate’s Court today by Mr H. P. Lawry. S.M. , . . , A charge of theft of a bicycle, valued at £7, the property of Leonard Edward Corlett, was made against Douglas George McLean, a soldier. Accused admitted the offence and elected to be dealt with summarily. Senior Sergeant G. A. Doggett said the bicycle had been taken* from Daniell’s timber yard and ridden to Greytown, where it had been sold for £4. Accused had been posted as a deserter but after a considerable time had surrendered at Taumarunui and had returned to camp. He had been punished fpr military offences by court-mar-tial. The bicycle had been recovered. An officer testified that since McLean, who was of a temperamental nature, had returned to camp he had given no trouble at all and gave every indication of becoming a good soldier. “What is the position about bicycles here?” asked the Magistrate. “In Palmerston North they have been losing 100 a month. I am sending offenders to gaol, even. for converting.” “Fifty or sixty bicycles have been taken since Christmas,” said the Senior Sergeant. “Most of them have turned up about the camps. They have been borrowed and left about the roads, Mr Lawry said the only way to rectify the position was to send offenders to gaol. . The Senior Sergeant said that m the present case he thought the accused should be given a chance. The Magistrate ordered the accused to come up for sentence, if called upon, within twelve months, on condition that he made good any loss occasioned to anyone, payments to be made' as directed by the Senior Sergeant. The Magistrate warned accused that if he got into any more trouble he could still be sent to gaol for the present offence. He asked him to tell his camp mates, if any of them thought of taking bicycles, that if they came before him on charges relating to the taking of bicycles they would be sent to gaol without the option. They would be lucky if they did not go to gaol for a month. |