CARGO PILLAGING.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16407, 30 December 1918, Page 4

CARGO PILLAGING.

TEHM OF IMPRISONMENT IMPOSED. The alarming proportions to which the practice uf cargo pillaging has grown were strongly common tod upon l>v Mr S. E. McCarthy, S.M., in 1110 Magistrate's Court on Saturday morning. William Steele was charged l;y the police that on December 21th, at Lytteltou, he stole 31 pairs of gloves, valued at £19. the properly ot' the New Zealand Shipping Co. A charge ot smuggling the goods was laid_ against him by the Customs who "placed upon them the value of £1S 12s, Accused pleaded guilty. Sub-Inspector Mulluuy stated that the mail was a fireman on hoard the s.s. Kent which was lying in Lyttclton. On the day in question he was noticed coming on to the wharf with some article iu his possession, which was found to bo the bundle of gloves. A good deal of pillaging had been going on on this boat, the full extent of which had not yet been discovered. The .Magistrate said that.tho offcnce of pillaging cargo had boconio so common in New Zealand, and so notorious, : cnat the Magistrates had felt it incumbent upon them, in the public interest, to deal with such cases in a special kind of way. "I myself, in different parts of the colony,'' continued his AYorship. "have tried, by the infliction of fines, sometimes to the extent of £20, to stop the practice, but it still goes on. These fines are contributed to and paid for by the class who are indulging in the pillaging. The only way to deal with it is by imprisonment." '•I hope you will not send me to prison," quickly interjected the accused, who had previously asked to be given a chance, and mentioned that he had a wife and children. "If you choose to steal you have to bear the punishment/' replied the Magistrate. Steele was sentenced to throe months' imprisonment with hard labour on the first-mentioned charge, and was on the other convicted and discharged.