Page 6 Advertisements Column 2

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25161, 17 April 1947, Page 6

Theft of Government Stores “Counsel for the accused has said that in cases of this sort a different standard of honesty or morality obtains from that in cases of theft of private property. The Courts must seriously consider taking steps to put a stop to these thefts from Government departments and service stores, and bring home to those concerned that there is no difference between stealing public and private property.” This comment was made by Mr C. C. Marsack. S.M., in Palmerston North, when a 19-year-old storeman at the R.N.Z.A.F. station at Ohakea pleaded guilty to five charges of stealing items of equipment of a total value of £l3B, the property of the New Zealand Government. Detective-Sergeant J. G. Long said the accused worked in a which contained more than £1.000.000 worth of equipment. During the war years older and more reliable personnel had been employed in such stores by the Air Department, but recently the department had been compelled to employ untrained, inexperienced youths, who had a great responsibility in looking after such valuable equipment. The accused was placed on probation for three years.