COATS STOLEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 133, 7 June 1937, Page 8

COATS STOLEN.

THEFTS FROM CARS. PREVIOUS CONVICTION. LABOURER IN COURT. William Henry Gardiner, aged 24, was an "overcoat specialist," but he did not work, in the clothing trade. That was why he appeared before Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in the Police Court this morning. Gardiner, a labourer, pleaded guilty to eight charges of tljeft of overcoats and scarves, of a total value of £28 10/, between April 27 and May 12. Detective-Sergeant McHugh said Gardiner came to Auckland early in April, and during the latter end of the month and early in May he stole the overcoats from motor cars parked in various parts of the city. "He was very consistent in these thefts nntiL he was. arrested," said Mr. McHugh. "He told the police he was hard up and that after stealing the overcoats he either pledged or sold them in second-hand shops, giving a fictitious name and address. Gardiner has previously been in trouble." "Self Preservation." "He is only 24 and has already been on probation three years ago," began Mr. W. Noble, representing the prisoner. "When he was hard up in Hamilton his goods were seized by the proprietor of a boardinghpuse, his levy book being among his effects. Because he did not have possession of this levy book he could not obtain relief work or sustenance. And so, being up against it in Auckland and alone in a big city without any money, I suppose he found it easy after stealing the first overcoat. "He really developed into an overcoat specialist. Only people who are desperately hard up know the actual meaning of poverty. No doubt Gardiner responded to the natural instinct of self-preservation, and forgot all about his obligations with respect to other people's property." "Old Habits." "All I can say is this, that for men in the position that you were in there are plenty of charitable organisations who will assist men who are hard up," said Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M. "There is no need for anyone to steal. No sooner do you find yourself free, your term of probation having expired, "than you resort to your old habits of dishonesty. You have previously been convicted for three charges of housebreaking, one of burglary and one of theft from a dwelling." Gardiner was ordered to be detained for reformative purposes for two years on one indictable charge, and 011 the summary charge lie was admitted to probation for two years.