THEFT OF BARBED WIRE ALLEGED

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25245, 25 July 1947, Page 4

THEFT OF BARBED WIRE ALLEGED

HEARING CONTINUED

EVIDENCE OF ACCUSED

(PA.) WELLINGTON, July 24. Charges of theft of barbed wire from the Government, preferred against Leonard James Thompson Ross, a company manager, aged 43, and Martin Anthony Fahey, a clerk, aged 45, entered the third day of hearing in file Supreme Court today. Alternative charges of receiving and stealing wire are preferred against Ross. Both accused have pleaded not guilty. Cross-examined by .the Crown Prosecutor (Mr W. H. Cunningham), Ross said Fahey was associated with a small gambling football game, which was popular at that time. Fahey asked the witness to lend him £5O to help him out. The witness did not dispute that 10 tons of barbed wire were carted from Gracefield by his firm’s lorries in September, 1945, and that nine tons of this wire was stored in his firm’s store in Ghuznee street. He had disposed of nine tons of wire. He denied that he and Fahey had arranged to steal this wire. He had no receipts for moneys he had paid to Fahey for wire. He had never asked Fahey to show receipts from the Government for wire he alleged he had bought. Fahey’s statement to the police that the witness had never advanced him any money was untrue. He could not account for the fact that some of the wire he had sold to the Wairarapa Seed Company did not come from Gracefield. Fahey, giving evidence in his case, said he began employment with the Ministry of Supply in January. 1942, as a clerk in the department manufacturing barbed wire, of which Arthur Langstone was stores controller. He had no authority to release wire. The only A grade wire in Wellington was at Thorndon quay, in a lock-Up store, with storemen and a nightwatchman. He took all his instructions from Langstone. No one was in charge at the Gracefield dump. After inspecting six coils of barbed wire in the Court, Fahey said two coils were definitely A grade. Three were B grade coils, and the other was C grade. Wire Taken to Gracefield • Wire was first taken out to Gracefleld in 1943. He was concerned in the delivery of 10 tons of wire from Gracefleld in September, 1945. Ross had said It would be easier for him and the department if some of the wire could be stored in Wellington to save cartage from Gracefleld. The witness brought the matter before Langstone, who explained they could not shift the wire without the consent of the Fencing Materials Association. Ross then suggested he would store the wire free of charge, and said he would supply his own labour. Langstone agreed to this course. Ross sent out two of his lorries and the witness went with them. Ross then pointed out how easy it would be to take the wire from Gracefield. Ross later rang up and said one of his lorries had taken a - load of wire to Trentham, but the person to whom it was sent did not require it. The witness then suggested the wire should be taken to the home of Frederick Smith at Trentham. This was done , and the wire was stored in Smith’s backyard. One ton of wire was sent to Norsewood. As far as the witness knew eight tons were still held for distribution in Wellington. The witness contracted pneumonia, and when he recovered he and Langstone decided they had better get the wire away from Ross. In the New Year an account for cartage was received from Ross, which was excessive. The witness had never been advised of the removal of the wire to Ohariu valley, or to the Wairarapa. He had never received any accounts in the name of J. Smith. Ross had never made any requests to him for the repayment of any moneys. Langstone arranged that Ross should pay a commission of 10 per cent, for all cartage for the stores department. Ross in all paid from £l4O to £l5O in commission. Fahey denied ever having received any other money from Ross. The witness said he had pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, to the theft of on 2 ton of wire. At the time of its removal from Gracefield, the witness had no intention of converting eight tons of barbed wire to his own use.

Fahey Cross-examined Cross-examined by Mr W; E. Leicester, counsel for Ross, Fahey said the sending of 10 tons of wire from Gracefield in September, 1945, was simply a matter of convenience to the Ministry of Supply and Ross. It was not stolen or intended to be stolen either by the witness or Ross. As soon as the wire came in Langstone and the witness sold a ton of it to a farmer at Norsewood for £35, of which £2O was handed to Langstone. Witness kept £lO. Smith did the deal and received the money from the farmer, who was a relation of his. Smith got a second ton, but the witness did not know whether he ever paid for it. Of £l5O commission which Ross paid for getting the cartage for' the Ministry of Supply, the witness received one third, or perhaps a little more. He believed Ross had delivered eight tons of wire to R. L. Button on December 12, 1945. Cross-examined by Mr Cunningham, the witness said if Ross sold 200 coils of A grade wire he did not get it from Gracefield. To the Chief Justice (Sir Humphrey O’Leary), the witness said if there were 200 coils of A grade in the wire Ross had sold to the Wairarapa Seed Company, it could not have come from Gracefield. The Court adjourned till tomorrow.