STOLE BOTTLES TO LIVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 127, 1 June 1927, Page 10

STOLE BOTTLES TO LIVE.

ONE OF THE "OLD CONTEMPTIBLES." SAD STORY TOLD IN COURT. NO MONEY FOR HIMSELF. (Hy Telpsrnpli— Pr.-ss Association.) WAI MATE. Tuesday. James Hell i> n veteran of Mon.«. Hβ was in the Royal Set, Fusilier? tor eleven rear-. !!•■ was wounded four times, and was promoted corporal by Sir Douglas Haip fur hravery. Hi- was mentioned five time = in despatches .ind recommended by m»voh <!i:T. ivnt • ■flu-era for the \"ictori.i (.:•»•• .■: M. (juetuin. He holds the Mon* Med.il with laurels, the British Military Me<ial with two bars, and the Frcnrh Medal Militaire. To-day lie admitted that he had broken into a cordial factory and stolen four dozen empty bottles, worth 4.'. The account of hi- army career was given to tho justices by *Bel! himself. Ho said he was a bottlo catherer, and had a wife and two children to keep. He had found business dull in Oamaru, and had come to Waimate, but owinjr to firms to which he sent bottles delaying payment, which sometimes necessitated travelling for it. be had been able to keep only his wife and children, living himself on bread ;ukl dripping. He did not drink. His wife had written for money to pay her board, and he decided to help himseif to emptv bottles. He was committed to t.ie S'lipr.-ino Court for sentence.