THEFTS FROM SHOPS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 50, 28 August 1922, Page 8

THEFTS FROM SHOPS

REMARKABLE SYSTEM OF

EXCHANGE

ASSISTANTS BEFORE COURT,

RECEIVING.

A remarkable story of a system of! dishonest exchanging of goods between members of the staff's of the various departments 6£ two of the biggest drapery establishments in the city was told at the Magistrate's Court to-day, when ten shop assistants and one man, a ship's officer by profession, but at present a labourer in a coal yard,' appeared to answer a series of charges of theft and receiving stolen goods. ' . A summary of the charges is as follows: Harry Martin M'Geachie, receiving gloves valued at £8 19s, tho property of James Smith, Ltd.; Ida AnnieAl'Geachic, theft of gloves, valued £18 18». tlie property of James Smith, .Ltd. ', theft of- 56 pairs of stockings, £17 10s, tho property of Veilch and Allan, theft of sundries, £17 2s 3d, the property of Veitch and Allan, receiving goods, £3 15s 6d, from 'Doris Edith Upham, the property of Veitch and Allan, receiving hat, 21s, from Mary; H. Davis, the property of Veilch and Allan, receiving vases,' etc., £3 12a 6d, from Mary Ellen Singer, tho property of Veitch and Allan, receiving , lace, 63 9d, from Clara Isabel Oldham, the property of James Smith, Ltd., receiving silk scarf, 235, the property of James Smith Ltd.; Clara,, Isabel Oldham, re-, ceiving gloves) 15s 6d,(from Ida Annie M'Geachie, the property of James' Smith, Ltd., theft of lace, 12s the property of 1 James: Smith, Ltd.'; Dorothy Mary Helen Davis,; theft hat, 21s, the property of Veitch ana Allen; . Ngaira Sinclair, theft of three pairs stockings, 25s 6d, the property of Veitch and Allan ;■ Doris Edith Upham, theft-of sundries, £19, the property, of Veitch and Allan, ' receiving of sundries, £2 Is 9d, from Ida M'Geachie the property, of Veitch, and Allan, receiving a brass jardiniere,' £3 15s, from Mary Singer, the property ofVeitah and Allan; Mary Ellen Singer, theft of vases, spoons, etc., £7 13e 6d,,property of Veitoh and Allan, receiving gloves, 18s 6d, from Ida M'Geachie, property of James Smith, Ltd., receiving two hate, £2 sb, 'from Edith Renkin,, the property of Veitch and AUan, receiving' three pairs of stockings; 25s 6d, fpom _ Ngaire Sinclair, tho property of Veitch and Allah, receiving stockings, 17s '6d, from Ids M'Geaohio, the property of Veitch and Allan, thoft of scarf and lace, 30s, the property of James Smith, Ltd.; Alma. Helen Robertson, theft.of handkerchief*, 8a 6d, the property of James Smith, Ltd.. receiving gloves, 18s 6d, from Ida M'Geachie, the property of James ■ Smith, Ltd.; Olive, Constance Doreen Beadnall, theft various, articles, £3 ils 2d, the property of the D.1.C.; Edith Renkin, -tr»«ft two bate, £2 ss, the property of Veitoh and Allan, theft of brass jardiniere, £4, 4s, the property .of Veitoh and Allan, receiving jardiniere, 21s, from Singer, property. of Veitoh and Allan; Mildred Blyth Thorpe, • theft various articles, '£12 13s, property of Veitch and Allan. -...., Mr. F. K. Hunt, 5.M..-was on the Bench, Chief' Detective Kemp prosecuted, Mr. T. C. A. Hialop appeared for Thorpe, and Mr. J. F. B.- Stevenson for the remainder.' All, the accused pleaded guilty. •'.-:. ■...'■■ ■ ■ • Chief-Deteotive' Kemp said that ori, 14th August last, a complaint was made to the Detective Office byjMr. Alexander Smith, of, the'firm of) James Smith, Ltd. Investigations were carried out' by^ De^ teotiyas Sinclair and' WaLsh, and the ten women and ■ one ' man before the '■ Court had been apprehended. A total of £150 worth of goods had been stolen, s All these h«d been recovered ■ with tne excoptioniof.a.hatjand.aroruot.' AH but the male accused had 'been employed at some time or othor by James Smith, Ltd., or by Veitoh »nd Allan. In each, case there was no suggestion that the. scouted were stealing for gain, but the goods were: taken for the'girls' own use, perhaps to satisfy their, own * personal vanity. ' In that direction, there was a distinction between the girls and'the M'Gekchies. Mrs. M'Geachie was twenty-three years j?f age, and bad stolen goods to th» value of/£53 10s 3d, and she received other goods to the total value of £10 9s, t M'Geaohie, her husband, was twenty-seven years of age. The* Chief-Detective proceeded to give details of i the other girls, a summary of whioh is as fojlows; Renkin,' twenty-seven years of age,, head of the millinery department at Veiteh and Allan, receiving £4 a week;' Thorpe, thirty years of age, head of the^ fancy departfheht at Veitch and Allan's; Upham, twenty-six years of age, employed for two years at Veitoh and Allan's; Singer, sixteen years of age; Davis, nineteen years 'of age, four, years at Veitch and Allan's; Oldham, nineteen years; Robertson, twenty-one years, widow, with one email child; Sinclair, seventeen, years of age; Beadnall,' employe*! at D.I.C. for eighteen months.' AH of the accused came from respectable parents.

"SORROW1 IN, MANY HOMES." '! "These are prosecutions that have brought sorrow, into inany\ respectable homes in Wellington,", said Mr. Stevenson, on behalf of his clients. It had not been a case flf theft for gun, but merely for the sake of personal adornment, which seemed to- be a sixth sense with most women. • At "the bottom of ,it all there seemed to be a desire .to wear,silk stockings and other .finery.' There had been a general.system of "swapping" in the shops. There was no doubt that this sort of thing bad been going on in Wellington for years past; and young girls, who wore innocent before they went into the .shops, were led to' believe that it was' no 'crime to take some small thing and exchange (t with a girl in another department. - The employers, counsel submitted, had an obligation to fulfil, and ho urged that the lack of suporvsion in the . past had. tempted the : girls !to commit thefts. During the war there- had been——' ■' ■ ...

Mr. Hunt: "Oh, .we'll leave the war out of it altogether." , r i : '

. Mr. Stevenson said that in each ' instance the girls had pwned up to the thefts, and- if it had not been for this many of the offences would never have, been traced. Mr. Stevenson proceeded to deal with the circumstances of each of the thefts,, and concluded by making 'an application that the names of the defendants should bo suppressed. ' , ' ■■ Mr. Hunt: "No chance at all: There are hundreds of girls, in the shops in this city, and I am not going to encourage them by suppressing the names of tlieso girls." v ■ ' '' • '

, Mr. Hisldp also addrassod the Court on behalf 6f_Thorpe. '. ' . V . ■•■

Jn giving his decision, the Magistrate said that thoro wore .two classes: of offend-ers—-young women -who might reasonably ask for lenient treatment, and' older woimen. who had been in responsible positions. Probably : the younger .girls had been taught a sevore lesson, and he hoped the elder ones had also learned a lesVm. Uphani, Thorps, and Re/ikm were each: fined £10, in default a month in gaol, and Mr. and Mrs. M'Gcachie were caoh fined £5, in default ono month in gaol. 'The charges against each of fcho' other defendants wero dismissed under the Probation Act, 1930. . 1 ."■' ■ '„