SENT TO GAOL

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 127, 1 June 1938, Page 12

SENT TO GAOL

CAR AND WINDOW SMASHERS

ADOLESCENT CRIME

SERIOUS IN NEW ZEALAND

Recent acts of hooliganism in the city—wilfully damaging motor-cars, and smashing windows at the museum— n met with swift, sharp retribution when the culprits appeared before Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today and were sent to gaol. e The Magistrate declared that adolescent e crime was serious in New Zealand, particularly as regards the taking and ,f damaging of motor vehicles. In the case before the Court probation was r out of the question. James Joseph Furlong, a storeman v and packer, aged 22, and Lyall Reginald " Thornton, a driver, aged 21, were 1 charged with wilfully damaging five motor-cars' to a total extent of £67, : with wilfully damaging a fence to the l » extent of £7, and with wilfully break--1 ing nine panes of glass in the windows y of the Dominion Museum. In addition, " Furlong was charged with wilfully ' breaking a pane of glass in a notice ' board, the property of the Welling--1 ton Harbour Board, and Thornton with e wilfully damaging two tiles, also the - property of the Harbour Board. e The Magistrate declined to take into f consideration the fact that the accused / cam£ from good families, and sent tenced each of them to four months' J imprisonment with hard labour on . one charge of wilfully damaging a t motor vehicle. Furlong was admitted 5 to probation for a period of two years on one of the other charges. On the £ remaining charges the accused were • convicted and discharged. i Sub-Inspector D. A. McLean prose- • cuted, Mr. T. P. Hanna appeared for : Thornton, and Mr. R. Hardie Boys for [ Furlong. "At the outset," said Sub-Inspector [ McLean, "I would like to say that it i is to their credit, notwithstanding the , serious damage that they have done, . that when they were caught they were i manly enough to. give the true story so . far.as we know, indicating how they committed these acts." The accused met | on the evening of May 24, and attended a skating rink, and later a dance. DAMAGE AT MUSEUM. "They had a bottle of whisky, and with this bottle in their possession, and ' drinking the contents, they went up to the museum at Mount Cook and there they threw stones at the windows," said the Sub-Inspector. "They broke, in all, nine panes of glass. "Then they went to Brougham Street, where they saw a number of motor- ; cars standing in the street, having been left there for the night. They began to release the brakes, and the cars ran down the incline until they .came to a stop, sometirftes against a fence, sometimes against a concrete wall, and sometimes against the guttering." They then went to other streets and let cars go, five cars in all being severely damaged. Afterwards they then went to the Harbour Board sheds, virhere one of the accused put his fist through a notice , board, and also broke two tiles. "In ( all, £77 12s 6d worth of damage was j done in the night's escapade," con- ( eluded the Sub-Inspector. , "CRAZY WITH DRINK." ! The matter had been. put very fair- J ly before the Court by the Sub-Inspec- ; tor, said Mr. Hanna. Furlong had been y continuously employed for 12 months , past by a city firm. Early in May he fell in with Thornton, and they had . been knocking about together. It ' would seem that on the night in question they had consumed a great deal r of beer before midnight, but later on ' they had a bottle of whisky between { them. One could only assume that , they had become crazy with drink. 1 Furlong had never been in any sort I of trouble at all. ' On May 27, said Mr. Boys, Thornton 2 was admitted to three years' probation on a charge of breaking and entering a golf pavilion, the only other a offence with which he had ever been j charged, and which was also caused by a drinking bout. He asked that n Thornton be given a chance of work- t ing out his salvation under the order of the Supreme Court. a After hearing the pleas of counsel c the Magistrate sentenced the accused j and made the remarks reported above, t