"A GOOD STORY"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 237, 6 October 1945, Page 6

"A GOOD STORY"

AIRMAN'S ADMISSION An admission that he had made a written statement to Constable J. Norton on September 28, alleging, "contrary to fact and without genuine belief in the truth of his statement, that an offence had been committed," was forthcoming from Leslie John Houston, of the R.N.Z.A.F., when he appeared before Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday. Senior Detective Trethewey said Houston, who was a motor driver in the Air Force, reported to the police that the truck which he had authority to drive had been unlawfully converted. The truck had been found damaged to the extent of £60. When inquiries were made by Detective H. E. Wilson it was found that Houston was driving the vehicle when it was damaged.

Mr. J. Terry, who represented defendant, said the truck met with the accident on VJ Day. Houston had three and a half years' service in the R.N.Z.A.F., and his idea in making the statement was to maintain the good record he had in the service. "It was a good old soldier's story," said Mr. Luxford, "It would have been a good story to tell in a few years' time—how you got away with it." Houston agreed. The magistrate dismissed the charge under Section 18 of the Offenders' Probation Act.