FOUND ABOARD SHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 41, 16 August 1941, Page 11

FOUND ABOARD SHIP

WANTED TO GET AWAY MEN LIABLE FOR MILITARY SERVICE (P.A.) AUCKLAND, August 15. Walter Norman Hogg (32), carpeziter, John Armstrong (38), slaughterman, Frank Walter Pincher (25), slaughterman, and George Andrew John Lopas (24), electric welder, who were found on an overseas ship on Friday afternoon last, .appeared before the Magistrate, Mr. Hunt, in the Police Court today charged with entering a ship without a permit. Lopas was further charged with assuming the name of Parker. All pleaded guilty. Senior-Sergeant Joyce, after describing how the men were found by the police aboard a ship about to sail for Australia, said that all were liable for military service and apparently they were trying to avoid their responsibilities. . On behalf of Armstrong and Pincher counsel, Mr. Mitchell, said that both were Australians and were prepared to J render military service. Having failed to obtain permission to leave the country they were attempting to return to Australia, where more work was offering than in New Zealand. Describing the men as four cowardly runaways and deliberate shirkers, Mr. Hunt sentenced each to three months' imprisonment. Lopas was convicted and discharged for assuming a wrong name.