ILLEGAL SALE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 111, 13 May 1942, Page 6

ILLEGAL SALE

PETROL DEALERS

GAOLED

FINES FOR BUYERS

Imprisonment with hard labour was imposed by Mr. J. L. Stout,- S.M.. in the Magistrate's Court today upon Charles Norman Young and Thomas Irvine Bell, partners in the firm of Young and Bell, Ltd., service station proprietors, for offences connected with the illegal sale of petrol.. Young was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and Bell to six weeks' imprisonment. A number of other people were fined for illegally buying petrol from the firm. It was stated that the petrol came from a secret tank containing more than 400 gallons which the defendants had held since the time of the Centennial Exhibition and the existence of which was unknown to the. Oil Fuel Controller.

"Before imposing penalties," said the Magistrate, "I think it is appropriate that I. should state now that it ism* creasingly evident that rationing is likely to be extended to other goods and commodities, and I consider it is essential that any attempts to foster a 'black market' in New Zealand should be promptly crushed and • the only way to do this is, in my opinion, to inflict such' penalties that will not only punish the present offenders "but will also be of sufficient severity to prevent others from following their example." " ■ • ■

Holding that William Harold Davis had resold at 6s a gallon petrol obtained from ' the service station, the Magistrate sentenced him ;? to .one month's imprisonment with hard labour for unlawfully selling petrol, to which he pleaded not guilty, and fined him £15 on each of two charges of the unauthorised purchase of < petrol and £5 on each of two charges of failing to give information about the petrol, to all of which he pleaded guilty. . ~ .-, MANY FINES. The following defendants, who had either pleaded guilty to or. been found guilty of the unauthorised purchase of petrol, were fined the amounts shown:—Herbert Henry Ambridge, £10 on each of two charges; Loeta Constance Farmer, £10; Albert John Harvey, £10; Frank Howard James, £10; Joseph Cohen, £10; Victor David, £I*s on one charge and £5 on another; Clifford Downes, £10; Robert Thomas Hill, £10 on one charge and' £5 on each oi iour others; Mina Annie Kerr and Mavis Lenore Nedwell Chamberlain, jointly charged, £2 10s each; Duncan Robertson Menzies, £10; Kelvin ,Huia Clemett, £5; Harold Wilson Morgan, £ 15; Stanley Moffit Morgan, £15; James Robert Morris, £15 on each of two charges; Godfrey Frederick Powell. £10; Bernard Leonard Shepherd, £2 10s; Cho Nam Wong, £15; Sidney George Nathan, £20; John Herbert Francis', £10 on one charge and convicted and discharged on another; Lucy. Noad, £10; George Benny. £15. Roy Cecil Temple was fined £10 for improperly using petrol, and. Herbert James Ransom was convicted and discharged for aiding and abetting him and for making a false statement to, obtain petrol. , AN EXTRA TANK. Bell, for whom Mr. W. E. Leicester appeared, pleaded guilty to two charges of unlawfully selling petrol. . .: Senior-Sergeant G. Paine; who" prosecuted, said that during the four days of police observation of the ' petrol station Bell was there for pnly. two hours. He was seen to make one; sale," and in a statement he had * admitted he had given authority for another illegal sale. He said he knew nothing of the alteration to the pump meter. The senior-sergeant said that the station had ten pumps and eleven tanks, and that the Oil Fuel Controller did! not know of the existence of the eleventh tank, from which most-of the illicitly-sold petrol was drawn. Mr. Leicester said that the sales at the station had.... dropped from 22,000 gallons a month-before the restrictions to 4000 gallons. '.'.Bell was the mechanical expert of the station and Young looked after the petrol and made the returns, and •, he (Young) took the blame for any misleading. of the authorities. "I'm afraid Bell will have to be sentenced to imprisonment," said the Magistrate. He said he did not know whether the public realised the severity of the penalties which were being inflicted in England in such cases. Many years of imprisonment were the maximum there, but in New Zealand the maximum was only twelve months. If "black marketing" spread in this country probably heavier penalties would be provided. He could not regard this as anything but a serious offence. Young pleaded guilty to 15 charges connected with the unlawful sale of petrol, and in the making of returns. "He seems to be the leading light in these offences," said Senior Sergeant Paine. "He was at the station during the whole of the period of four days during which the police had it under observation, except for two hours when his partner was there." The senior sergeant said that Young had covered up his illicit sales by altering the meter on a pump. Mr. Leicester said that Young did not admit that the amount of petrol involved was quite as high as the police alleged, but he did admit altering the pump meter and deceiving the authorities. The firm had got between 400 and 500 gallons in one tank at the time of the Exhibition, said counsel, and the existence of that supply was not made known to the authorities. Then Young became enmeshed in the tangled web of deception, and it became increasingly difficult for him to disclose the existence of the petrol. The drastic cutting down in petrol supplies confronted the firm with, ruin, and he succumbed to the' temptation to sell.this store in order to get what he could out of the wreck. "This case is certainly worse than that of the other partner," said the Magistrate, and he pointed out that Young had committed fraud in order to conceal his sales. Young and Bell, Ltd., was convicted and dischargfd on a charge of storing dangerous goods. This charge was in respect of the "secret" tank. CHARGES DISMISSED. Yesterday afternoon the Magistrate dismissed charges of the unauthorised purchase of petrol made against William Rimu Woods (Mr. W. P. Rollings), Douglas Ross Harlen (Mr. Rollings), and Walter Campbell White. Harlen and White were each fined 10s for not having a current warrant of fitness for their cars. A charge against Lucy Noad (Mr. R. I. M. Sutherland) of failing to give information about petrol in her possession was dismissed. Other charges against Young, against Young and BelL Ltd., and against another man were adjourned until May 27. Counsel intimated that the defendants would plead not guilty and elect trial by jury.