Trial On Greenstone Theft

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31177, 29 September 1966, Page 3

Trial On Greenstone Theft

(N.Z. Press Association) HOKITIKA, Sept. 28.

Three Hokitika company directors were today committed for trial on charges of the theft of greenstone worth £14,420.

The directors, Walter Hector Tainui, aged 47, Bernard Joseph Radomski, 29, and Murray Andrew Allan, 43, will appear in the Greymouth Supreme Court on November 23. They had earlier been remanded until today in the Hokitika Magistrate’s Court, on charges of the theft of 25 tons 15 cwt of nephrite and bowenite (commonly known as greenstone), the property of the Crown. It was alleged the stone was taken from an unnamed tributary of Olderog creek, between June 1, 1964, and March 12, 1965. The three defendants have pleaded not guilty. Outlining the case for the

Crown, Mr D. J. Tucker said the three defendants first discovered greenstone in a creek in 1962. They applied for a mineral licence in the Olderog creek and Jade creek. They were entitled to go for 20 chains on Olderog creek and 60 chains on the other.

“Two other people, Messrs Dalzell and Robins, became interested, and applied for a licence for 1000 acres on Jade creek,” said Mr Tucker. “They pegged out the area and applied for the licence. The defendant’s and Mr Dalzell’s party became locked in a Warden’s Court battle, and eventually surveyors were

sent up and a common boundary was agreed to by both parties. “This was determined by a rock, to be known as red rock. “Nevertheless, the defendants teamed up in agreement with another man in a ‘collusion action’ to wrest a further area. This application was dismissed by the warden. Mr Tucker said that in December, 1965, Messrs Dalzell and Robins went to their site and discovered practically ail the boulders they had rioted and tested had been removed and possibly blasted for removal. They also found a helicopter site. Inquiries were made and eventually it became a police matter.

John Patrick Crozier, a de-tective-sergeant, of Greymouth, said in evidence that after flying by helicopter to the area, he found a large rock marked in red paint, “Arahura river 80 chains,” and above this point there were numerous signs of large boulders having been blasted.

All three defendants admitted when interviewed that they had worked in the area and had removed a large quantity of greenstone.

“We found the greenstone and it belongs to us,” Tainui said, according to the detec-tive-sergeant. All three maintained their claim extended further up the creek beyond the big rock.