"ABSOLUTE NECESSITY."

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 77, 31 March 1922, Page 5

"ABSOLUTE NECESSITY."

■ MAN STEALS A BIKE. OFFERS RETURN FOR £2. GAOL FOR THREE MONTHS.

Tlie hearing of a charge of theft by WiUiam Angus, a man who remarked in a letter he left in place of the bicycle he stole from the Royal Hotel that he should like to be honest, raised more than one laugh in the Police Court this morning. The information was laid by Ernest Page, the owner of a bicycle that had been left, and when he came to get it all that he found was the following epistle, written on paper with the letterhead of the Returned Soldiers' Club: —

"Dear Sir, —Absolute necessity made mc claim your bike; with it I was able to shelter and food. I should like to be honest, but my position will not permit. With the bike I have ran into a food account of nearly £2. Would you care to meet mc to-night or to-morrow morning at ten at the door of the Star Hotel, Albert Street, and by placing the £2 in my hands I will take you to where the bike is located. So that I might recognise you, would you kindly hold a newspaper in both of your hands? As my intentions are good, I may be able to repay you when I find a job, providing I have your address. — (Signed) Pro Bona." Mr. Page duly appeared, with a friend, to watch proceedings from the other side of the street, and after getting the £2 Angus led them to the hiding-place of the machine. They then changed their attitude towards him, and he ran away, but later on he gave himself up to the police.

When the case of the police was completed the magistrate raised another laugh by saying that Angus would never make his fortune by stealing. "You are evidently a beggar by occupation," said the Bench, after glancing at the list of previous convictions. "No, sir; I am a cook," replied Angus. "It was a matter of necessity. I had. only a few pence to get a drink." The self-confessed thief was given Government shelter and food at Mount Eden gaol for three months in return for his labour there.