£5 FOR A “JOKE”

Grey River Argus, 20 August 1940, Page 6

£5 FOR A “JOKE”

PENALTY FOR FALSE FIRE ALARM. WELLINGTON August 20. A false fire alarm given by a' young man, according to his own statement to the police, as a joke while he was under the influence of liquor, led to his being fined £5 by Mr. J l . L. Stout, SIM., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He was Keith Murray, a machinist, and he did not appear. Sub-Inspector G. H. Lambert said that the matter was a serious one. At 11.24 p.m. on July 27 a call to MacDonald Crescent was received by the fire brigade by telephone. Machines were sent to the street and it was found that the alarm was a false one. Inquiries led to the defendant being interviewed. He admitted the offence, and said he was drunk at the time and thought it a good joke.

A constable read Murray’s statement to the police, in which he admitted ringing the fire brigade from the house of a friend just before leaving it. The friend knew nothing of the telephone call.