DISHONEST WATERSIDERS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 136, 5 December 1918, Page 8

DISHONEST WATERSIDERS

TWO MEN SENT TO- GAOL.

"My idea in dealing with waterside ! thefts- is not to impose very severo'j penalties, in some cases and light penalties in others," said Mr. F. V. Frazer,! S.M., at the Magistrate's Court, this morning, "but I wish to make it quite clear that all proved cases wttl be met with .a term of imprisonment. The "cer-. tainfcy of imprisonment is more likely to act as a deterrent than severity in par-: ticular cases." Peter Kreyl, a watersider, pleaded guilty, through Mr. H. P. O'Leary, to having stolen two. men's hats, ■ two tins of cocoa, a tin <qf milk, two pieces of silk ribbon, and a quantity of knitting wool, of a total value of £4 5s Id, the property of the New Zealand Shipping Company, on 27th. November. Inspector Marsack said that following information received, Sergeant Mathieson and Constable Graham went down to the, King's Wharf, where the steamer Kaiapoi, on which the accused had been working, was berthed, and there saw Kreyl coming ashore. Kreyl also. saw them, for he immediately bolted, was chased, and in due course searched at the Police Station. There was no- doubt that the articles found were taken from a case which had been broached' on the Kaiapoi. It was probable that Kreyl ! was'only one of'several men who hadhad i a, hand in the affair. Accused stated that he had found the articles , lying about the hold. Mr. O'Leary said that the man had taken the goods because he had real need of them for his family. The Magistrate said he doubted whether Kreyl, who had 11s in his pockets when arrested, had need to steal milk and cocoa; the silk ribbon was not essential to a family in dire circumstances, and he thought that in all probability the hats, were stolen with a view to a sale being effected later. Kreyl was sentenced to fourteen days' hard labour. _ '. . A shipping official mentioned, to a Post representative at the conclusion of the case that over £80 worth of goods had been stolen from the ship on the occasion in question. "The first charge explains the second and third," said Mr. O'Leary, who also appeared for Jobi Pryse, a watersider, who pleaded guilty to charges of drunkenness, breaking his prohibition order, and stealicg three bottles of beer, valued at 6s, the property of 'the Wellington Steamship Company. Inspector Marsack said that Pryse was accosted by a constable as he was leaving the steamship Baden Powell, and was found to have the bottles in his pockets. Pryse was convicted and discharged on two of the charges and was sent to gaol foT fourteen -days on the chaTge of theft.