THEFT FROM A CHINESE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 149, 27 June 1930, Page 11

THEFT FROM A CHINESE

THREE MONTHS' IMPRISONMENT

With fourteen charges against him for similar offences, Samuel M'Shane, a tailor, aged 56, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment by Mr. E. Page, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this morning, on a charge of stealing £1 from the laundry shop of Nang Sun and Co. in Molesworth street.

The accused, who pleaded, not guilty, was represented by llr. 11. 11. Boys. Charles Frederick Ward said that on the 20th June he heard a commotion in a Chinese laundry, and found the accused and a Chinaman struggling in a corner of the shop. The Chinaman told witness that M'Shane had "pinched a pound." The. accused protested and said that it was his money, and that he went into tho laundry for some change.

William Patrick Chapman said he saw the accused come out of the shop with some Chinamen. M'Shane walked up the road, and witness took hold of him, and was walking back to the shop when tho accused bolted. ,

Ling Chee said he went out of the shop to make a purchase, and when he came back he saw tho accused under the counter with a £1 note in his hand.

Mr. Boys' said that the accused on that day had £1 and a penny in his possession, and as he wanted to go to Karqri and did not wish to tender the note for his tram fare, he went into the laundry for change. The Chinaman saw the note in M'Shane's 'hand and then the struggle started. Mr. Page said it sfiemed clear that the accused must be convicted. There was no doubt that the Chinaman's evidence was substnnHM.