LYTTELTON NEWS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23801, 21 November 1942, Page 7

LYTTELTON NEWS

* THEFT OF TEA Seen by a constable _n the act o£ gathering loose tea from the hold of a coastal vessel at Lyttelton. Richard Thompson, a waterside worker, aged 29 years, residing at Woolston, was arrested and was charged at the Lyttelton Magistrate's Court yesterday with stealing a quantity of tea valued at £l. the property of the Union Steam Ship Company. He pleaded guilty. Messrs F. E. Sutton and T. A. Mahar, justices of the peace, were on the bench. Senior-Sergeant D. Wilson said that about 2 o'clock yesterday morning, Constable V, C. Gilmore, who was on duty at tire vessel, saw Thompson gathering up the tea from a quantity which was loose on the floor of the hold. He saw accused put the tea into a billy-can and send it up on tile hook with a sling of cargo. On the wharf another man took the can and hid it. Later the constable saw Thompson eanying the can along the wharf. On being asked to show what was in tlie can, Thompson became excited and threw it into the sea. where it was recovered by the police launch. Thompson was married with three children, and had never been in trouble before. In reply to a question from the Eencn. the accused s"id that there was a large quantity of tea spilled on the floor and, as it was just going to waste, he helped himself to some. In imposing a fine of £lO, the Bench told the accused that it was only in consideration for his wife and children that he was not sentenced to imprisonment. At the same time the Bench expressed the opinion that the shipping company should have taken steps to have the tea cleared up and not left whAe the men were working.