FROM THE CELLAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 258, 31 October 1929, Page 10

FROM THE CELLAR.

MISSING CORDIAL BOTTLES

TWO MEN ON TRIAL.

Seven bottles of cordial, worth 7/7, 'were the articles alleged to have been stolen by Harry Collins and Henry Girling Arnold, who stood their trial before Mr. Justice Smith and a jury in the Supreme Court this morning. Collins pleaded not guilty to a breaking and entering charge, but guilty to theft and receiving, while Arnold denied his guilt on all charges. Both men were represented by Mr. Noble. Giving an outline of the case, the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. V. E. Meredith, said that the offences were alleged to have taken place at the Shakespeare Hotel, at the corner of Wyndham and Albert Streets. There was a grating on the footpath which opened into the cellar under the hotel. The chain of this had apparently been broken by a crowbar, which was found nearby. Down in the cellar a box of cordials was open. Spirits were locked away in another part of the cellar. Whether the men wanted cordials or something stronger it was hard to say. .• However, the only proceeds of the depredation had been seven bottles of cordial. The evidence would show that Arnold assisted Collin3 to get into the cellar. He kept watch. Seven bottles of cordial had been found on Collins. Evidence was given by the proprietor of the hotel, John Hook, Constable Hayes, who arrested the men, and who had watched the whole performance from across the street, Constable Whitelead and Detective Sergeant P. J. Doyle. Arnold, in a.statement to the detective sergeant taken after his arrest and ■which he refused to sign, stated that on the night of the offence he was drunk. He had tripped over the grating, which was raised from the footpath, and together with Collins, who came from the other side of the road, he put the grating back. It was while they were doing this that they were arrested. The jury retired at 12.15.