AGENT'S LOSS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 49, 6 May 1942, Page 2

AGENT'S LOSS

THREE £50 NOTES

SOLDIER FOR TRIAL

The story of how a. Whakatane commission agent, alter bef two soldiers, lost £1."0 was told in the Auckland Police Court last Aveek when Leonard Gordon Andrews, motor diiver and soldier, aged 27. was charged that on March. IS at Whakatane he stole £.150, ,the property of Stanley Thompson. DetcctivcSergeant Trethewey prosecuted, and Mr Noble appeared for the accuser!. Stanley Thompson said he saw the recused and another soldier in the bar of the Matata Hotel on March 18. He treated them and also arranged for a room for them at 1 the hole'. After dinner that night he drove them to a party in his car, but lie himself did not attend the partv. but returned to the hotel. He went to l>ed about 9.30 p.m. and hung his coat behind the bedroom floor. Tn a pocket of the coat were three £50 notes, three £1 notes and [wo cheques. He awakened about 5.30 next morning and went to his coat to get a cigarette and discovered that the money and cheques were missing. He immediately had the cheques, one for £7 and the other for £2, stopped. The room booked for the accused and his companion was No. 12, but neither had slept in it that night. He did not see either after taking them to the party. When he first spoke to them in the hotel bar they told him they were "broke," and while he was with them he cashed a cheque. Whcn taking the chcique bock out of his pocket lie also took out the three £50 notes. Shirley Dive, school teacher, residing at the Matata Hotel, said that between 3 and 4 o'clock on the morning of March 19 she heard somebody walking across the passage. A dcor was open, and when a match, was lighted she saw two soldiers standing in the passageway. They had their backs towards her and went into room No. P 2. Purchase of Clothing l Roy Morris Neil, shop assistant at Paeroa, said that on March *20 two soldiers, one of whom was a?eused, came into the shop where lie was em ployed, and accused purchased clothing to the value of £11. Accused tendered a £50 note in payment, but when this could not be changed lie produced three £5 notes and paid ! lie £11. Absent Without Leave In a statement produced by Detective V. C. Lcnuon, accused said he was a private in the New Zealand Defence Forces and was with the Second Echelon. He returned from overseas in July, 1941. On March 18 last lie arrived at Whakalane with another soldier, whom he knew as Les Daly. He and Daly had been absent without leave for about two and a half months from camp and had been travelling about the country evading the military authorities. At the ■ Matata Hotel they met two men in the bar with whom lliey had a few drinks. Both he and Daly were wearing the overseas 'New Zealand" tab on their shou'ders, but Daly had not been overseas. "After getting our tea for u.s the men took us in their car to a party at Whakatane. I' had a lot of liquor at the party and I cannot remember going back to. the hotel. T remember Daly waking mc up on the side of I lie road and telling mc avc Avere going to move on. 1 Avas; still a bit drunk at this stage, but t remember Daly telling me that he - pinched some money oil' the thin fellow avc had met at the hotel. He did not tell me how much, but said it Avas a fair 'roll.'"'

Clothing Purchased The statement then told how they had gone to Te Puke, Tauranga, Thames and Paeroa. At Paeroa accused purchased clothing with money --two £,"j notes and some loose notes —given him by Daly. They then eame to Auckland and next day went to "Wellington. From Wellington they took the steamer for Nelson. While in Nelson, said accused in his statement, Daly would give accused a "quid" a day for drinks and food, and occasionally two or three pounds at a time. W I ter we had been four or (ive days in Neison Daly and I had an argument, and when 1 fold him that - was going to leave him he said ihat if that was The way I felt it was ail right with him. He then gave me £i) and T booked my seat on the plane. The ticket cost me £2 ss. I did not stay in "Wellington, but eame on to Auckland. At no time did: Daly divide tlie money he stole at the hotel with me, but merely (Continued in next eljlumn).

gave me amounts varying from £2 to £."> daily. A Military Pension "ILTore 1 left cam]) T was in re-i-eipt of a military pension of £2 per week. The amount I usually collected was (18 Lis -Id per month. The last pension I drew' was on February '23 last.' and of the money I gave Daly about £3 or £4.'" Accused pleaded not guilty and was committed lo the Supreme Court for trial.