RECEIVING CHARGES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 258, 28 July 1936, Page 6

RECEIVING CHARGES

Wellington Business Man’s Trial STOLEN INGOTS OF TIN Alleged to have received from October, 1934 to November, 1935, tin valued at £590/15/6, stolen from the Railway Department’s store at Woburn, knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained, Douglas Charles Stevens, single, aged 31, stood his trial at the »Supreine Court at Wellington yesterday. There were eight charges. The tin was alleged to have been received from Charles Bold, former railways servant, now serving a prison sentence lor theft. Stevens was employed by G. R. Stevens and Co., Ltd., scrap metal dealers,

Wellington, according to his statement, since 1921, his uncle being principal of the.firm. He (accused) held one share, and received £7 weekly and bonuses. Mr. Justice Johnston presided. Mr. C Evans Scott represented the Crown. Mr. 11. F. O’Leary, K.C., with him Mr. R. Hardie Boys, appeared for Stevens. Clement Roy Edwards, a Goj ernment audit inspector, said Bold was in charge of the oil and metal section at the mam railways workshops store from the middle of 1933 onward. An audit of tin stocks he conducted showed 18 ledger entries from 1933 to December, 193t>, unsupported by requisitions. The total stock shortage in this period was a tons. 3 cwt. loin. The bare landed cost was 2/9 a pound. Cross-examined, Edwards said a considerable quantity was stolen in respect of which no charge was made against Stevens. Stevens and Co., Ltd., made substantial purchases of scrap metal

m< From' the time he was first P ut charge of the oil and metal section he stole tin by means of dummy entry ledger cards, said Charles Bold. He was first Associated with a mail named AicNflUffut and when he left in September-October, 1934 he (Bold) carried on alone. He did not know' Stevens before McN aught left. In October. 1934. he approached and arranged to sell Stevens some ingot tin. This was taken to a garage at the house of one Stewart in William Street Petone, bv Butler, a railway truck driver. He accompanied Butler. He later removed the tin to truck and transferred it to Stevens and Co.’s lorry in Heretaunga Street, Petone, where witness lived. The same afternoon Jie received a cheque at Stevens and Co.s oflice f ° l /“y 4/‘ „ a j n In November-December, 1934, he a o ain saw Stevens at the reclaim platform at Woburn regarding tin. Stevens said, c won’t let the old man (Stevens, < of S evens and Co., Ltd.) know anything about thi=. We’ll do it between ourselves. It v,as decided Stevens should pay him one shinin'- a pound for the tin and Stevens should have the other. Stevens asked him how he got the tin, and he told him it was quite safe, that there was no i risk about ?t and that he was “fixing the. ledger. Stevens paid him £2B in cash outside witness’s home at Petone. Bold gave other evidence regaidin o alleged transactions with Stevens to support the Crown’s charges. P it would be “all lies to say he had the loan of a van from a man named Shaw, had had the ingots melted down, and then it said Bold to Mr. O’Leary. He knew Stewart denied ever to leave stuff at his place. He did not at first take the tin to his own house because ho riiri not want his wife to see it. h Ireson, a Railways Department lorry driver, took the second lot of D" f or him —to his (Bold’s) place, said Bold. Stew art°did not know what was sent to hit place. He began to send tin t 0 Stowajt s a „ a i n —three lots in all—after , the sec ond lot because his (Bold*) wife Questions and he had to tell her a pack lies. Stewart was , eml)loy^ p ? t tl^ e t ia°dM shops. The men who remov ed the b n did eq without any question. He had sent tin to the Place ofa man named Gr*m field. Witness had lived o 0 to years at Petone. When McNaught was at the workshops witness did not know how 11 Hn was removed, how it was sold, or. disposed of. All he did was to wait patiently until McNaught paid him. Butler, Greenfield, McGuire, Ireson and Stewart were quite innocent as to what was m the cases which contained the tin ingots, except that the cases were heavy and came from the store at Woburn. He paid none of the men, other than Gieengeld for their work. The reason the stock was short when he took . ® hals the section was that someone before him had been stealing. He reported, this to the foreman, but not the heads. Green, of Tennyson Street, had delivered some Ca Frede°ric h ? Mason Butler, labourer, Railways Department Taumarunui said that in October, 1934, vvhen a lorry driver at the workshops. Bold placed some cases on his lorry fo delivery at Stewarts garage at W’lliam Street, Petone. Bold accompanied him and unloaded the cases. . Mr Boys: Do you genuinely say you had no idea what you , we J c ‘ akl ” s heavy cases for your friend Bold to your friend Stewart’s place ?-“Certa inly not. Bold’s wife, Dorothy May Bold, Here taun"a Street, Petone, said she remem bored some heavy parcels which attracted her attention, being delivered at her place by a railways lorry. She remem bored a stranger calling to see if her husband were home. He called again and her husband and he carted the pa reels into the latter’s car. She recognised the man at an identification parade m 1936. but was too nervous to point him out She was sorry she had to do it. She no doubt Stevens was the man h To Mr Boys. Mrs. Bold said she heard afterward some of the money her husband received from the sale of tin was got back from a man named Shaw. She knew Green, of Tennyson Street, Stewart who had lived at William Street, and Greenfield but not Adams. Declining to grant Stevens bail overnight his Honour said that as a rule the court set its face against granting bail under these circumstances. The trial will proceed to-dar.