MISSING TRACTOR TYRE

Evening Star, Issue 22619, 10 April 1937, Page 27

MISSING TRACTOR TYRE

MEN CHARGED WITH THEFT EXPLANATION ACCEPTED BY COURT A defence that they had found the article, advanced by two men in the Police Court yesterday afternoon, was successful, a charge of theft against them being dismissed. They were James Houston and John Wallace Watkins, who were jointly charged with the theft of a tractor tyre, valued at £6 14s 6d, the property of the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company. Mr B. S. Irwin appeared for the accused, both of whom pleaded not guilty. , Chief-detective Young told the court that between December 9 and December 10 the tyre disappeared from a stand at the Invercargill Show, where it was The- -theft, was reported "fb the police, but nothing further was heard of the matter until a salesman in the employ of the complainant company was approached by a Mr Kennedy, a partner in a firm of motor engineers in the city, to see if he could place a tractor tyre for them. On the following .day the- salesman examined the tyre and Found it to bo identical with the one stolen at Invercargill. Kennedy, when interrogated by the police, stated - that the tyre had been brought to him about the middle of January 1 y Watkins, who . sked him to sell it for him. Watkins later told the police that on December 11, while he and Houston were motoring to In-, vercargill, they saw some children playing, with the tyre on the road a few miles south of Edendale. As it looked new, they put it in the car, and subsequently brought it to Dunedin, where they stored it in a garage, and suggested that tho proprietor should com municate with the Goodyear Company. Houston corroborated Watkins’s statement, but neither of the accused had advertised the finding of the tyre, although they said they had watched advertisements in the Otago and Southland papers.- They told the police that they had mentioned their find to the petrol station proprietors at Woodlands and at Nightcaps, but 'here was no confirmation of this.

Evidence in support of the chief detective’s statement was tendered by William Moir, a salesman in tho employ of the Goodyear Company, and by Rankin Kennedy, a partner in a firm of motor engineers. After Detective Marsh had road statements signed by the accused, Mr Irwin submitted that there was no case to answer as there was no evidence to support a conviction. The magistrate (Mr H. W. Bundle, s.m.), said that one must be dubious of the statements made by the accused, in view of the fact that they had omitted to report the finding of the tyre to the police. He was unable to say, however, that the prosecution had proved that the accused had, in fact, converted the tyre to their cv.n use. They were, therefore, entitled to dismissal of the charge.