ARMY STORES

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 144, 14 December 1940, Page 13

ARMY STORES

THEFT BY COOK

DISHONEST TRADING

COMMENT IN COURT

! "If you were not a married man I with a large family and had not previJ ously had a good character I would > have sent you to prison. Thefts such as you have made are difficult of detec--1 tion and • are • unfair to your fellow--1 soldiers, the Army authorities, and the whole community," said Mr. A. M. : Goulding. S.M., at Upper Hutt yesterday, in inflicting a fine of £20 on 1 Frank Nightingale, cook in charge of No., 4 cookhouse at the Trentham . Camp, for thefts of military stores. The goods stolen were valued at £9 4s, and included such items as tea, butter, sardines, spoons, knives and forks, scissors, table cloths, tea towels, an ammunition pouch, trousers, jerseys, blankets and boots. Quartermaster H. Tritt, in charge of a group of cookhouses, said that the accused was in a position of trust and held the keys of the food storeroom of No. 4 cookhouse. He had found that the accused was ordering in excess of requirements. He inspected the store and found shortages of butter. A quantity of goods outlined in the charge had been found in the accused's cubicle. The accused had no authority to remove anything from the cookhouse. Constable C. E. Tanner stated that he searched the accused's home, which was in Upper Hutt, and found tea, butter, blankets, towels, jerseys, and boots which had been identified as military property. Andrew Simpson, camp accountant, gave evidence of the issues made to the accused and also to his son. The items in the charge were in excess of those lawfully issued. STATEMENT BY THE ACCUSED. The accused in evidence said he had not used the cubicle for 30 days before the date on which the charge was made. During that time he had been living at home, as his wife was ill. He had allowed one of the cooks in his employ to use the cubicle. He absolutely denied any knowledge of the goods which were said to have been found in the portion of the cubicle he had previously occupied. In regard to the items found in his home the blankets had been taken home to wash, the tea towels had got included in a bundle of personal washing he had taken home, the boots and some of the jerseys were his son's, the other jerseys had been given him as a quid pro quo by someone in the Quartermaster's store in return for meals at the cookhouse. There was a general practice in the army of give and take. Sometimes men came home with a. "hangover" and came to the cookhouse for cups of tea or a grilled steak and in return things were given the cooks from the store. Cross-examined by Detective Murch, the accused admitted that he knew the jerseys given by the stores staff must have been stolen but he contended it was a well-known practice. Edith Nightingale, accused's wife, stated that when she bought tea she always put by a quantity as a reserve. That accounted for the large quantity found. She had bought the tea at various shops in Wellington and Upper Hutt. The butter had been bought in Upper Hutt and it was not true to say that the particular brand was not sold there. MAGISTRATE'S COMMENT. Mr. Goulding said that the cook in charge of stores should be a man of a much higher state of honesty than the accused had shown himself. The j accused knew that the articles from the stores must have been stolen and he also knew that if his son had left boots and jerseys behind it was his duty to return them to the military authorities. No one would object to the gift of an occasional cup of tea from the cookhouse but when these were bartered for goods from the store it was distinctly dishonest. There was nothing to connect the other occupant of the cubicle with the stolen articles.

Ernest Clark, also a camp cook, was convicted and discharged for having unlawfully in his possession butter, cocoa, and dates, valued at 5s 4d, the property of the Camp authorities. Mr. Goulding stated that the military penalty on Clark would be sufficient punishment.