PAWNED CORNET.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 186, 8 August 1930, Page 9

PAWNED CORNET.

PRESENT TO "THE KING."

S.M. SOLVES A PROBLEM.

PAWNBROKER AWARDED

£3 10/.

ARGUMENT IN POLICE COURT,

The amount of compensation due to a pawnbroker on account of a cornet which is alleged to have been stolen from a band was argued in the Police Court this morning. H. Meltzer, pawnbroker, had taken in pawn a cornet allegedly stolen from a military band, and the band claimed that the article should be returned to tlicm. Mr. E. K. Hunt, S.M., ruled that the cornet was to be returned on payment of £3 10/ and costs to Meltzer.

Mr. Hubble, who appeared for the Crown, said that the cornet was not missed until March of this year, when a member of the band saw it in Meltzer's shop window. He told the officer in charge of the band, and they returned to the shop and identified it as one missing from the band. It was pawned in the n 1.1110 of , who at one time had cjntrol of the band.

Mr. Hubble asked that the cornet be returned, and, 011 the question of compensation, said that when new the cornet cost £20. The price 011 it in the pawnbroker's shop was £14. Meltzer had lent £2 on it, and Mr. Hubble submitted that £2 was all he was entitled to get. "Say It Belongs to the King." "We have had a number of claims for ownership of the instrument," said Mr. Hogben, who appeared for Meltzer, admitting that the instrument belonged to a military band. However, they did not know who was entitled to claim it. They did not know who owned it.

Mr. Hunt: Oh, we'll say it belongs.to the King in the meantime.

Mr. Hubble said the last check of the instruments was made in 1928. The cornet had been issued to a private, who had returned it.

Mr. Hunt: It .had been returned to store, and either or someone using the same stole it ? —That is so.

The cornet, said Mr. Hogben, had been pawned in September, 1925. No notice that it was missing had been given to the police. There were no suspicious circumstances in the case. "Conscience Asks Ten Guineas." Mr. Hunt: What does your conscience allow you to ask for compensation?—lt prompts me to ask for ten guineas. Mr. Hunt: Oil, you won't get that.

Mr. Hogben explained that after the expiration of the pawn ticket an article must be sold by sale and must go to the highest bidder. In this case Meltzer had bought the cornet into stock for £1010/. He submitted that his client was entitled to £10 10/.

Mr. Hunt: I think I'll give him £3 10/ 'and costs. ....._ • - . .'. }r~'Mri Tliibbler aslcecl that costs be not allowed, but Mr. Hogben demurred, saying that his client could quite easily have been met without the case being brought to Court.

Mr. Hubble: The position is that the band has no funds. His Majesty will have to come to the rescue.

"He's got plenty of money," said Mr Hunt, fixing the costs at £1 1/.