DETAINED LETTERS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 986, 29 November 1910, Page 4

DETAINED LETTERS.

FOUND IN A POSTMAN'S ROOM. At tho Magistrate's Court yesterday, Cecil Stanley Chaplin, a.youth who bad '■ been employed as a letter-carrier at : Lower Butt, ivas charged witli detaining fivo letters and a postcard, tho property. o£ the Postinastor-General. Tho date of the oli'ence was November 22. A second information charged him with having (between April 22 and November 24) de- ' taincd 40 printed newspapers and 31 printed papers, tho property of the Post-mastcr-Oieiieral. Mr. H. I'. O'Leary. defended. Charles Alexander Seymour, postmaster at Lower Ilutt, stated that accused had been a letter-carrier since February 25. It was the duty of letter-carriers, in cases whero tho addressees of mail matter could not be discovered, to return same to the. office. Part of accused's duty also required him to occasionally clear pillarboxes, bring the contents to tho post office, and enter tho number of packets in a rough book. In the bundle ■of packets produced there was nothing to show that the newspapers had besji through the post office, as' newspapers were not date-stamped at the receiving office. Tho bundle of circulars had been through the post office; they were datestamped. The five letters and tho postcard mentioned hi tho first charge had not been through the office. Detcctivo Andrews stated ' that on November 24 ho searched Chaplin's room and found 102 postal packets. In Chaplin's overcoat ho discovered fivo letters and a postcard. Tho letters wero addressed to the Rev. P. J. Serpell, Mrs. J. M'Gowan, Messrs. Seed Bros., the secretary of tho Eangitiiei Sawmillers' Association, and Mrs. D. S. Bennet, Svdney. Tho postcard was' addressed to"Miss Cameron. A small parcel containing a pair of lady's gloves was found in accused's box. He stated that he had bought them for a girl, but later admitted that the parcel had .come through the post, and that he had taken the address ticket off them.A statement signed by Chaplin was then read by Detcctivo Andrews. In this statement accused admitted detaining the letters and papers. f 1 Accused pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supremo Court for sentence. Mr. O'Leary suggested that if his Worship thought that there was reasonable chance of accused being granted probation by the Supreme Court, that he be admitted to bail. Tho magistrate (Mr. W. G. Eiddell) said that on account of the Supreme Court rule in these_ cases he did not feel justified in entertaining the question of bail. An order was made that the postal packages in Court bo handed over to the Postmaster-General for transmission to the addressees. j