TOOK A TARPAULIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 237, 7 October 1930, Page 8

TOOK A TARPAULIN.

RAILWAY SURFACEMAN PINED USED ON" A FAEM. (By T-lcgrapli.—Own Correspondent.) WHANGAREI, Monday. The funiiehings of the Whangarci Magistrate's Court wove' temporarily added to this morning when a tarpaulin was spread out on the floor as an exhibit in a case against an employee of the Railway Department. The police stated that the tarpaulin was valued at £7, that it disappeared from tho Otonga station about February 1 and that it was found in the possession of Peter Strongman, a native surfaceman. For the accused Mr. Steadnian said the tarpaulin after being run over ;iy a truck, was left on a side line. Strongman, who was also a farmer, used it to cover manures and cement, which were landed for him on a wet day, and afterwards dropped -it in his shed, forgetting all about it. Strongman had been employed as a" surfaceman for ten years. Tho magistrate, Mr. G. N". Morris, refused an application for suppression of name. His Worship said that considerhis long connection with the Railway Department, Strongman should lave known the position in regard to the tarpaulin. In imposing a fine of £2, and ordering tho return of the tarpaulin together with tlio payment of £2 damages, Mr. Morris said he took into consideration the man's previous gootteharacter,