LETTERS OPENED.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20037, 19 September 1930, Page 9

LETTERS OPENED.

POSTAL OFFICIAL CHARGED. Seven charges, three of opening postal packets, a,nd four of. theft of postal packets were preferred against William Arthur Bowen,"a postal official, at tho Magistrate's Court, before Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., yesterday. The charges ranged in date from July 21st to September 2nd. Detective-Sergeant J. B. Young said that on September 3rd he went to Little River, and that after making investigations he interviewed accused. He had told accused that at some time diiring the night a number of letters addroled to the Banks P*™ n ™J a Power Board had obviously been tampered with, and that hei had.been informed that accused hald been alone oh! duty from ,5,30 P-mV to midnight Also, that the letter* had been intact before he went on duty, and had been found tampered with by morning. He baa shown accused the envelopes,, nnd accused had admitted opening tjmsej of them and- had initialled these. stated that ho had not taken anything from them, and this was found to be correct. Witness-also $™ st } o ™*. a *: ensed concerning^the alleged theft,of letters from the Post Office some weeks P1 Accused had made a statement to the effect that he had merely opened the three letters,- although .he knew he had no right to. He had afterwards sealed' them ..again Also, he stated that before going on leave some weeks before'b.e had opened letters containing 22s and 29s in postal notes, and another with £2 in single notes, and had taken the. money, cashing the postal notes in Christchurch He .had siened the notes, when cashing them, with :the iiame of J Manning. Accused pleaded guilty to all C The Magistrate said that a breach of dutv by a postal official was a very serious matter. Accused was committed for sentence to the Supreme Court „t Christchnrch. ba-'l being, allow-ed in the sum of £SO and one surety of £SO.