CONSTABLE'S SUSPICION

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 82, 3 October 1929, Page 20

CONSTABLE'S SUSPICION

LEADS TO THREE ARRESTS

Smith rtn7°tt k ?r tbe Part of Constable T. fcmith, of the Mount Cook Police, led to the appearance in the Magistrate's Court yesterday of three seamen, Hu K h John fea a« aS o^'^^ James , fjl' r,aged 42> and Daniel M'Kwan aged 47. I'he accused were chargedl wHh stealing three attache c<ises valued at £1 ICs, tho property of Charles E. Morris, and a wooden box containing fire belts and six pairs of braces of a total value of ;3s, the property of Moses Davis. I Johnstpno pleaded guilty and the two iM'Ewatis- not guilty. ■■•".';'■. [ Giving ievidence, Constable Smith said that at 5 p.m. on 24th September he was oft duty and was sitting in tho back room of a shop in Taranaki street. The owner of the\ shop- c'ani'e'into the room and said that he tad just: bought two attache cases for 4s and a packet of cigarettes. Witness saw the cases and thought he had better have a look at the men. He saw Johnstone and James M'Ewan crossing the road, where they were joined by Daniel M'Ewan. The next morning witness heard that the attache cases had been stolen. He got them from the shopkeeper and had them identified. He then searched for the accused, and found them in a city hotel. The box referred to in the second charge -witness got from the barman of the Royal Tiger Hotel, in whose keeping it had been left .by Johnstone.At the conclusion of the evidence Mr. E. Page, S.M., said that the evidonce showed that the three accused had been 'drinking together around the town, but he thought the evidence just fell short of establishing the fact that the M'Ewans were parties to the theft, and he would have to dismiss the charges against them; Asked if he had anything to say, Johnstone replied that for the past fourteen months he had been working; very hard, and when he came to Wellington with his last cheque it was with the intention of getting away to Australia, where he had some people. "Drink is my downfall, your t Worship, and I ask you to let me take out a prohibition order and. give me another chance."

"You have a substantial list"6f convictions," said the Magistrate, in sentencing Johnstone to three months' imprisonment on each charge, the sentences: to be concurrent. -....-• '

• So ■ successful have been- the trials carried out with six-wheeled motor "buses' hi the Sahara Desert that a regular service is shortly to be run, which will be extended ..tQvTlnjbuc.tqa.i.anaiitKa,. Belgian Congo. '