FOURTH EDITION

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 155, 4 July 1927, Page 7

FOURTH EDITION

! STOLE TONS OF COPPER. i j P.W.D. EMPLOYEES' FALL. I BOTH HARD UP. I ONE BLAMES THE DRINK. Picas of guilty were entered at the Police Court this morning by Francis Augustus White (aged 44) and Harry I Ernest Meyer (aged 53), to stealing three tons of copper wire, valued at £270 the property of the New Zealand Government. Iu his statement to the police, White said he had been drinking, and that he had hesitated several days before falling in with Meyer's suggestion. Meyer then being very hard up. Chief Detect ive Cummings prosecuted for the police, Mr. Prendergast appeared for White anil Mr. Matthews for Meyer. { According to W. .7. Bryden, district ! storekeeper of the Public Works Depart- j ment, a special sort of copper cable had been imported for the transmission line between Auckland and Arapuni. Each drum weighed a ton, and cost £90. It was stored at Penrose and was taken out as wanted. White had been in the Department's employ for about twelve years, and lor the past two years was storekeeper at Penrose. Meyer had been a casual labourer under White. In answer to Mr. Matthews witness .-aid Meyer got 1/10 an hour. To Mr. Prendergast he said White had been conscientious and most attentive to his duties. John L. Sullivan, fruiterer, Auckland, said he had known Meyer for the past 20 years. In August Meyer came to him and said tliey had some surplus wire at the P.W.D. stores at Penrose, and wished to know if witness cojuld suggest a buyer. After making inquiries witness arranged to sell a drum of it to Hardley's, Newmarket, for threepence three-farthings a pound. He arranged for the transport by a lorry, which went out to Penrose and picked up the wire, in the cart being the driver, witness and Meyer. Witness received the cheque for £37 odd, and out of that he got a commission of a farthing on each pound of copper. That was in August of last year. In the following month Meyer asked him about selling two more drums, and eventually through another j>erson witness arranged with Mr H. Clark, of King Street, Newmarket, '<> take the wire. The cheque was for j -omf £00, and witness got his usual comj M'.ission. paying £2 to the man who arranged the deal. j Detective Snedden told how he had i interviewed both Meyer and White, and | he produced statements they made voluntarily. Meyer said he was a married man with four children, and lived in Cook Street. He admitted the stealing of the three drums, and described how | they were got rid of. White, when interI viewed on June 24, 1927. said he was a I 'uarried man with one child. Meyer was j hard up last year, and White also. When Meyer suggested disposing of some of the copper wire White hesitated for several days, but eventually consented to take one drum. Out of the proceeds he got £21. Some weeks later Meyer suggested taking more drums, and White agreed to two going. Meyer worked the job. and White did not know where the stuff was sold. White got £25 out of the second transaction. He converted the money to his own ends. He knew he was doing wrong, but he had been drinking. and drink was the cause of what he iiid. He had been drinking with Meyer. I No one else in the P.W.D. yard at Pen- ' rose was responsible in any way for the ! copper that had been taken. On behalf of their clients both Mr. ! Matthews and Mr. Prendergast pleaded ! truiltv. and the accused were committed |*u the Supreme Court, bail being fixed iat £2":0. i