WOOL STEALING

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 167, 11 April 1935, Page 9

WOOL STEALING

Alleged Lenient Treatment of Thieves Dominion Special Service. Waipukurau, April 10. Some time ago the Waipukurau County Council passed a resolution and forwarded it to the Minister of Justice protesting against the alleged lenient treatment meted out to stealers of wool in the Hawke’s Bay district. The Minister in reply to the resolution said that the question of penalty was one entirely in the discretion 'of the court, and necessarily the magistrates or justices in imposing the penalty had to be guided by the particular circumstances of the ease. It was not a matter on which ■he could give any directions whatever to the magistrates. 1 Mr. A. C. Russell, chairman ot the county council, at the meeting of the council at which the reply was discussed, said the reply was the usual departmental one. He considered that the Minister could stipulate what was a suitable penalty and what was not. Wool stealing was far too prevalent, and the penalty should be more severe. A man recently solicited twopence from a plain-clothes constable in Wellington and got a month for it. A man who stole the farmers’ wool got off with probation. The whole thing was wrong, he said, and would encourage rather than deter crimes of this nature. It was decided to advise the Minister that in view of the fact that wool stealing was a serious offence, the council considered his reply was unsatisfactory and trusted that as Minister of Justice he would give the matter further consideration.