" TOO MUCH OF IT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 225, 23 September 1938, Page 8

" TOO MUCH OF IT."

EMPLOYEES' THEFTS.

MAN SENT TO PRISON.

COMMENT BT MAGISTRATE.

C omment on the fact that too many thefts by employees of their employers' goods was going on was made in the I'olice Court this morning by Mr. C'. R. Orr Walker, S.M., when he sentenced one of three men to one month's imprisonment for stealing goods from the firm which employed him. The case one In which three men, Richard Marsden Johnson (42), John James McGillivray (25) and George YVilliam Sharrock (37), pleaded guilty to a summons charge or stealing carbonettcs, blood and bone, potash and garden manure of a total value of £5 3/3, belonging to Kempthorne, Prosser and Company, Limited.

Mr. Bryce Hart represented the three men.

Detective-Sergeant McHugh said that Johnson, who was a shunter employed at Kempthorne, Prosser's works at Otahuhu, appeared to be the prime mover in the theft. "This theft was schemed out while the three men were in an Ellerslie hotel drinking," added Mr. McHugh. "On the night of August -3 they went out in a car driven by one of the other men and from a siding at the works stole the material They made two trips to the works. All the' stolen material, with the exception of about i/3 worth of earbonettes, has been recovered. All three men have been very frank and admitted the theft when first seen by the police."

Johnson, said Mr. McHugh, had been charged with dishonesty in 1934, when he got two months' imprisonment for theft Neither ot the other two men had been in trouble before. All three were married.. Johnson having seven and Sharrock eight children. McGillivray waß marr ied, bnt had no children. Johnson was the onlv one of the three accused who was employed at Kempthorne, Prosser's works

Mr. Hart said it would be a calamity if the men were sent to prison, as JolinI !, S t l i ar r ock had large families to I >F TV. ,7 had not been drinking the theft would never have occurred. It is fairly obviou« that there is far too much stealing from employers by employees," said the magistrate. "Johnson knew the run of the ropes. There was no necessity for him to steal, for he was getting good wages. McGillivray was evidently the dupe—he was fool*shly led into the thing by older men." Inquiry was made by the magistrate concerning the nature of the theft charge for which Johnson was sentenced I in 1934.

Mr. Hart said it was stealing a wireless set.

. at Te Aroha, when he was arailway servant," added Mr. McHugh. Remarking that, probation was evidently not proving a sufficient deterrent in such cases, the magistrate sentenced Johnson to one month's imprisonment. McGillivray was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within six months, and Sharrock was admitted to probation for 12 months. McGillivray and Sharrock were also prohibited from taking intoxicating liquor.