ALLEGED THEFT OF WIRE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25244, 24 July 1947, Page 3

ALLEGED THEFT OF WIRE

—♦ — CHARGES AGAINST TWO MEN STATEMENTS MADE BY ACCUSED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 23. Joint charges of the theft of barbed wire from Government stores at Graceheld against Leonard James Thomson Hoss, a company manager, aged 43, and Martin Anthony Fahey, a clerk, aged 45, were continued in the Supreme Court to- * Alternative charges of receiving Ross Stealing wire are also brought against Detective-Sergeant J. H. Alty said that when he interviewed Ross in October last the accused made a statement in which he said that about September, 1945, Martin Fahey, a member of the Ministry of Supply staff, had asked if he could store 10 tons of wire on account of a client. Ross agreed to store the wire at 6d a ton a week, plus handling and cartage. From time to time Fahey had come to nim and said he was short of money. Ross nad made him advances, which ultimately totalled £3OO. Some of these payments were by cash, and some by cheque on the Inter-Island Freight Services, Ltd., anddebited to Rosss personal account. When the amount reached this sum,” Ross s statement added, ‘I became worried, and consulted my solicitor, who ad'rlsed me to sell the wire to clear the debt and storage charges. I decided to do so, and arranged to see Fahey. I finally agreed to buy the wire, nine tons approximately from him for £4OO. I paid him a further £lOO. He approached me for a tu* t r t- advance - I made the suggestion that I buy. He agreed, as he required the money. He told me to set up in business with Smith. He told me some time before that he had become agent for Smith. I never met or spoke to Smith. I have since disposed of eight tons 18cwt of the wire, at £5O a ton, to the Wairarapa Seed Company, for which a cheque for £445 was paid to me personally. So far as I am concerned this was an ordinary business transaction.

“Negligible Profit” . nought purely to protect myself. After debiting the usual storage and handling charges I made only a negligible profit. Cn October 22, 1946, I felt suspicious. I looked up my 'records. I sent m y foreman, A. Hodson, to see Fahey on October 23, to ask Fahey to ring me in connexion with the wire. He told Hodson he might ring me later in the day, but that as far as he was concerned he intended to deny all knowledge of the nine tons of wire.” Detective-Sergeant W. J. Hedley said he interviewed Fahey on January 1 last, w “® n he made a statement that it was while he was employed by the Ministry of Supply that Fahey first made the acquaintance of Ross about April, 1945. Most of the carting for the Ministry of Supplyhad been done by J. O’Brien and Company. As instructed by Arthur Langstone, stores controller for the Ministry of Supply, Fahey arranged that in future In-ter-Island Freight Services was to do the major part of the carting as a means of compensating Inter-Island Freight Services for the money they had lost through storing goods for the Ministry of Supply. I was also told by Langstone that Ross would in all probability 7 pay Langstone and me consideration money for this arrangement of carrying,” the statement added. "At that time I had a banking account with the Bank of New Zealand, and Mr Langstone arranged that we would be paid by cheques, that the cheques would be handed to me, and that »/ri WaS . tO them - I remained with the Ministry of Supply till May, 1946. Altogether Langstone and I received between us a total of about £l5O from Ross as far as I can recall.” Fahey’s statement gave details of cash•ng cheques, and said that after receiving the money he would hand it to Langstone. who would return about one-third of the amount

Shortly after I first made his acquaintance. Ross mentioned to me how easy it would be to steal barbed wire that was stored in the open at the Ministry of Supply’s dump at Gracefield,” Fahey’s statement added. "Ross said he had a salesman travelling through the country m connexion with another business he was interested in, and that this man could easily arrange to sell the wire if I was prepared to assist Ross in stealing it. Langstone and I realised how easy it would be to dispose illegally of the wire, and in the event of questions being asked as to why Ross had w'ire in his stores, it could be explained that it was being held for small releases. Ross assured me he could easily give a plausible explanation if any questions were asked. Ton of Wire Sold "With a view to stealing the wire, I arranged for 10 tons to be picked up by Ross tfroraj- Gracefield, and taken to his Store. I supervised the loading of these 10 tons on to two Inter-Island Freight Services trucks. After this I arranged with Ross that one ton of wire was to be forwarded to Norsewood. This theft was committed by me in September, 1945. Ross knew at that time that the wire was being stolen. I received £35 for the ton of wire sent to Norsewood. Out of this I paid £5 as-commission to a man named Frederick Smith, who was an innocent party. I retained £lO, and I gave the remaining £2O to Langstone, who was aware that I had stolen the wire.” Fahey’s statement added that later he became worried -about stealing the wire and decided he would have it returned. As far as he was aware, the remaining nine tons were still in Ross’s store. He saw Ross and advised him to dispose of it when he received the next official releases from the Ministry of Supply. He was to forward the wire from his store instead of picking up further wire from GrAcefield. He later told him he had done as instructed.

Fahey denied that he authorised Ross to store barbed wire at Sligo’s farm at Ohariu, and that he had asked for or been given an account for storage from InterIsland Freight Services at any time made out in his name, or anyone else’s. Ross had never lent Fahey any money. The only money he received from Ross was that which he received in consideration for work he had given him.

In his evidence Ross said he was under the impression that the wire had been purchased by Fahey and Smith in the name of Smith. The suggestion that he had assisted Fahey to steal the wire was ridiculous.

Cross-examined by Mr G. C. Kent, for Fahey, Ross said that apart from the money he had paid to Fahey he had never made any advances to any other member of the staff of the Ministry of Supply, though he had made presents to some. Of the £445 he received from the Wairarapa Seed Company for 10 tons of wire he had sold them he had paid nothing to Fahey. He had had no dealings with Langstone of the Ministry of Supply with the exception of one loan of £5. The hearing will be continued tomorrow.