LABOURER EARNS £l700 A YEAR

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27796, 22 October 1955, Page 12

LABOURER EARNS £l700 A YEAR

Duties Take 2f Hours Each Day

£25 FINE FOR STEALING FROM EMPLOYERS

(New Zealand Press Association) WHAKATANE, October 21.

A man who, it was stated, earns more than £l7OO a year for working two hours and a half each day, pleaded guilty in the Whakatane Magistrate’s Court to two charges of theft. He was Rani Raki, a 48-year-old; labourer employed by the Fletcher-; Merritt-Raymond Company at Kawerau. For stealing 10 dozen plates, he was fined £l5, and for the theft of two rolls of barbed wire, a fine of £lO was imposed. In addition, Raki was ordered to return the stolen property, valued at £24 Us, to his employers. Messrs C. H. Brebner and H. G. Warren, Justices of the Peace, were on the Bench. Detective-Sergeant E. G. A. Rippin, who prosecuted, said the accused was a married man employed by the Fletcher-Merritt-Raymond Company to clean the conveniences at Kawerau. The accused worked from 6.30 a.m. to 9 o’clock each day, and for that received a cheque of £5OO every three and a half months.

The Registrar (Mr A. E. Crimp): Nine o’clock at night? Detective-Sergeant Rippin: No, nine in the morning. Two and a half hours’ work—that’s all he does for the day.

The Registrar: I think we’re in the wrong job. Mr Brebner: Definitely. Detective-Sergeant Rippin told the Bench he understood that the Fletcher-Merritt-Raymond Company would continue to employ Raki in spite of the thefts. Thefts from the Kawerau companies were causing the police a lot of concern at present, he added. In making an order for immediate payment of the fines. Mr Brebner said Raki ought to be in a position to pay right away.