STOLEN LIQUOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1937, Page 6

STOLEN LIQUOR

MOTHER AND SON

"SYSTEMATIC OFFENCES"

Allegations that a young man had been systematically stealing liquor and groceries from his prr.ployer, and that his mother, a boarding-house weeper, had been engaged in an illicit traffic in liquor over a period of 18 months and had been disposing of the liquor "which she had encouraged her son to steal," were made by Detective-Sergeant.. V. Doyle in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. Restitution to the extent of £45 having been made, Mr. W. F. Stilwell. S.M. who was on the Bench, imposed a fine of £15. in default four months' imprisonment, upon Lewsly Frederick Keith Suridge, a storeman, aged 29, who pleaded guilty to the theft between June 1, 1936, and February 27, 1937, from his employer, T. and W. Young and Co., of liquor to.the ■value of £45. On a charge of theft between March 1 and May 31, 1937, of liquor, cigarettes, pickles, and other groceries, valued at £23 Us Id, the property of T. and W. Young and Co., Suridge was admitted to probation for 18 months. His mother, Ethel Suridge, aged 49, was fined £20 for selling liquor without a licence. She was fined £5, in default one month's imprisonment, for receiving liquor valued at £5 14s lid, knowing it to have been dishonestly obtained. For receiving a quart bottle of whisky, valued at .8s Bd, she was convicted and discharged. Detective-Sergeant Doyle, said that the son for two years had been employed as a storeman by Messrs. T. and W. Young. On May 18, one of the directors of the firm advised the police that he had reason to believe that liquor was being stolen from the store. A constable in plain clothes visited the home of the mother in Thorndon Quay and purchased a bottle of whisky for 9s. The mother's home was watched, and on May 31 the son brought there a sack containing a number of bottles of stolen liquor. The son's home at Island Bay, where he lived with his wife and child, was searched by detectives and a quantity of liquor and groceries was found. The son admitted quite frankly that the goods had been stolen. He had received half of the proceeds of the sale of the liquor. The son had made restitution of £45, the agreed value of the property not recovered. He had the reputation of being a good worker, and up to the time of his arrest had been held in the highest respect by his employers.

The mother was a widow and kept a boarding-house in Thorndon Quay, said the Detective-Sergeant. The police had every reason to believe that, she had been engaged in an illicit. traffic in liquor for over 18 months. He submitted that she was the principal offender. She had benefited by the proceeds of the sale.

Mr. C: O. Bell, who appeared for the son, said that his client had lost his father when he was 14 years old, and had had to fend .for himself. Until the award came in, he was earning £2 a week. He had started in a very small way but had been unable to stop. He had lost his employment, and although he had made restitution, he felt his position severely.

Mr. R. Hardie Boys, who appeared for the mother, said that she assumed family responsibilities very young, and at the age of 35 was left a widow with five children. She had to start a boarding-house. Unfortunately some of the people in the house induced her to get a supply of liquor, and she fell into the sly-grog habit, Some weeks ago she decided that the sly-grogging had gone too far.N People in the house and neighbours, she : said, begged, pestered, and badgered her to get more, but she told one of them that "she was not going to get any more: booze for I anyone."

"It is evident that there has been systematic co-ordination between these two people," said Mr. Stilwell, in fixing the penalty. Fourteen days were allowed in which to pay the fines.