THEFT OF PETROL

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 114, 16 May 1934, Page 6

THEFT OF PETROL

USE OF A SFPHON

TWO STUDENTS FINED

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

DUNEDIN, May 15.

Two dental students, William Lloyd Alexander, aged 10, and Joseph Kenneth Hay, aged 22, pleaded guilty in the- Magistrate's Court today to a charge of stealing a petrol cap and a quantity of petrol valued at 3s 4d, the property of Prank Rutherford Walker.

Chief-Detective Young said that at 9 o'clock on the previous evening Inspector Munro, of the city traffic staff, saw two young men standing by a motor-eyele. There were motor-cars on either side of them. The inspector became suspicious, and on looking closer saw one of the men with what appeared to be a siphon. He swung his lights on, the man and found that his suspicions were confirmed. The man with the siphon, who proved to be . Alexander, ran.north along the street. The inspector chased and caught him, and he admitted siphoning petfol. The cap from the petrol tank .was found .in his possession. Hay. made off on the motorcycle, and when he was; located later he admitted his part in the offence. Tho young men stated that this was the first time they had committed such an offence, but the Chief Detective suggested that in view of the elaborate apparatus in their-possession it was obvious that this" was not the first occasion on which, they had, stolen petrol. The offence was prevalent at the present time, and was difficult to detect. The defendants stated that if their names were not suppressed they would probably be "sent down." Alexander said that the offence had been committed in a spirit of-foolish bravado following a rehearsal for the Cappine concert. . . . The Magistrate, Mr. J. E.. Bartholomew, said that he could not regard the offence as an impulsive one in view of the apparatus with which - the defendants had provided themselves. If he suppressed their names it would be a clear case of class,distinction, for which there was no justification. They ■would each be fined £2, in default seven days' imprisonment.