ELDERLY CHINESE GAOLED FOR RECEIVING STOLEN CIGARETTES

Evening Star, Issue 26137, 26 June 1947, Page 6

ELDERLY CHINESE GAOLED FOR RECEIVING STOLEN CIGARETTES

After the discovery had been made on May 27 that 10,300 cigarettes ox American manufacture bald been stolen from one of eight cases aboard tho freighter Ottawa Valley, the police visited the laundry in Rattray street of Chin Fooi three days later, and found that he had been selling cigarettes of the same brand. Fooi appeared on remand in the Police Court to-day and pleaded guilty to receiving 295 packets, the property of the New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd., in the knowledge that the goods had been dishonestly obtained. A submission by Mr C. H. Stevens, counsel for the accused, that a fine might be considered to be sufficient punishment because of Fooi’s previous clean record, was rejected by Mr J. D. Willis. S.M. “ The crime of receiving is worse than stealing, because, were there no receivers, there would be less thieving,” said the Magistrate. “ Fooi must have known the cigarettes were stolen property, and if ahy person on the wharves admitted this charge prison would inevitably follow. Fooi must be similarly dealt with, and he will be sentenced to a month’s imprisonment with hard labour.” The visit of Detective-sergeant Macdonald Brown and Constable Turner to Fooi’s shop was made as the result of information the police had received, said Chief-detective T. Y. Hall. The cigarettes were in a sack, and Fooi explained that he had bought them from a stranger off the wharf for £2O. This man would not accept a cheque', and the transaction was made in cash. The Chief Detective said the value of the cigarettes, with Customs duty added, was £2l 2s 6d, and their retail value would be approximately £2B ss. It would be difficult for any trader today to receive cigarette stocks, except through legitimate channels, as the wholesale firms allotted these goo'ds only to retailers and other regular customers, said Mr Hall. Fooi was 64 years of age, and had resided in New Zealand for 44 years, 6aid his counsel. He had two laundry shops, one in Rattray street and the other in St. Andrew street, and had been accepted in the highest integrity in business circles and by the Chinese community. This was the first occasion that Fooi had been in possession of stolen property, and it -was because of his age and his previous clean record that counsel suggested that a fine might be imposed. “ He is not a.vicious or a criminal type, but he has just been a silly old man in committing this offence,” Mr Stevens said.