RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 915, 8 February 1868, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Thursday, Feb. 6. (Before John Curling, Esg,, R.M.)

FELONY,

Richard Clifton, aged 15, George Eabone, aged 15, and John Boyd, aged 15, were charged for that they, in the month of October 1867, feloniously did steal, take and carry away from the branch post-office at Napier, three post letters, the property of Her Majesty's Postmaster-General for NewZealand, containing money and certain orders, &c.

The following evidence was elicited : —

Thomas Scully, sworn, deposed : I am Inspector of Police at Napier. About the 17th of September last, I was passing the Bank of New Zealand, at Napier, when Mr. Rabone called me, and handed to me a number of cheques — say half-a-dozen or so — and other bank documents, telling me that his boy, one of the prisoners, had found them "in the Shakespeare-road. I went into the bank, and handed the documents in question to Mr. Macfarlane, asking him at the same time if they belonged to the bank. He looked over them, and said they did, and that they had been posted a few days previously. I then left the bank, and subsequently on the same day I again called, and was then informed that two of the cheques were missing. I then went to Mr. Carver's, the Postmaster at the Branch Office, to make enquiry how the letters containing those documents were lost. I there saw the prisoner, Richard Clifton, who was living there at the time. Mr. Carver sent him away from our presence, and then told me that the boy could have had no opportunity of taking the letters. I then went and found young Babone. He took me up the Shakespeare-road, and Eointed out the place where he said he ad found the cheques and documents. I searched for a couple of hours, but could find nothing. He told me that he found the cheques that morning, about 7 o'clock ; that would be about the time the mail car went down. He said he had given them to his father.

Robert Macfarlane, sworn, deposed : I am accountant in the Bank of New Zealand. About the 17th or 18th of September last, the Inspector of Police brought me a number of orders and cheques, which he stated had been picked up on the road. I identified them at once as the property of the bank, all the documents beai'ing the bank's private mark and number. I asked the Inspector of Police to let them remain in my hands, and requested him to call again during the day. On referring to my books I found two of the orders missing, and the letter -which had contained them, addressed to our Wellington manager. I believe the envelope was also missing, One of the missing orders was drawn by A. Grant on Johnston and Co., of Wellington,- for £100 ; the other was drawn by .Nairn and Brothers on Levin and Co., also of Wellington, for £12 18s. Afterwards I applied to the drawers for duplicates, which I received and forwarded to Wellington, and the duplicates have been, I presume, paid, as I have no advice of their having been refused. The other documents which were picked up I also forwarded to Wellington. Patrick M'Lees, sworn, deposed : I am a labourer, and reside at Papakura. My wife and I came into town one day, about four months ago, and paid Mr. Carver, the Postmaster, £2. We wanted a postoffice order for Cielmeharmag, in Ireland. Mr. Carver took the money, and said he would send it to Mr. Bourke, in order to procure the order.

John M'Vay, sworn, deposed : lam a saddler, and reside in Napier. On the 29th of October last, I went to Mr. Carver to get a post-office money order for £3. I gave him three notes, I think. He filled up a requisition to send to the Spit for the order.

Robert William Ind Carver, sworn, deposed : I am a chemist, and Postmaster at the branch Post Office at Napier. On the 17th of September last, the Manager of the New Zealand Bank at Napier came to the post-office window, and showing me certain documents, asked me if I could give him any information about them, and telling me at the same time that they had been posted at the Branch Office of which I am in charge He said they had been given to him that morning, and had, as he was informed, been picked up on the Shakespeareroad, bxit I did not recollect anything about them. Mr. M'Lees gave me two pound notes some time before the 15th of October last, to obtain a post-office order. I filled up a requisition, and enclosed the two pound notes, with the requisition, in an envelope, and directed it to the Chief Postmaster at the Spit ; and, as it was too late to send it down by any of the traps, I put it into the letter-box, to go down by the mail in the morning. Some few days after that, say two days, I asked John Tylee, one of the post-office clerks, to ask Mr. Bourke to send me the post-office order on Ireland. He enquired, and in the course of the day Mr. Bourke, the postmaster, came up and told me he had not received my requisition. The letter-box in which I had placed the letter containing the money had no lock to it, but fastened by a brass button. I usually, however, locked the door of the office containing the box when I went out. It probably would be open when I was in the office. When I sent the mail down, I did not notice that the letter was missing. I take the number of the letters when I send them down. The prisoner (Clifton) was errand-boy in the shop with me at that time. He would only have opportunities of getting into the office when I was there. He used to assist me sometimes in the office when I was there myself. When I came out of the office into the shop, I used to shut the door but not lock it. About the 29th of October, I received three pounds from Mr. McVay for a post-office order. I filled up the requisition, and put it into an envelope with the money, directed it to the chief postmaster, and put it in the letter-box to send down the next morning. In regard to the case of the two pounds, I am not quite certain whether I put the money in an envelope or not, but I believe I did. With respect to the three pounds, I am quite certain that I did so, and that I put it into the box. In the morning I did not (being pressed for time) observe whether it was in the box or not. I just took out the letters and counted them, and sent them off at once. As before, I asked for the post-office order to be sent up, and received answer that they had not received the requisition or the cash. The boy Clifton was in my employment at this time. I did not then suspect him. About a fortnight ago, Mr. Haymes, the watchmaker, was in my shop, and, in conversation with him, I mentioned about the £5 I had lost, saying to him that my late errand-boy had been suspected. [He had left me a month or so previous, as his parents wished to send him to school]. Mr, Haymes then said he (the boy) had bought a watch from him for 155., and that, subsequently, he had offered him (Mr. Haymes) 30s. for another one. In consequence of this, I spoke to the boy's father, who said that he had never given him any money to buy a watch with. The father sent him to mo, and he then made a confession to me that he had taken the bank

letter, the £2 and the £3. He made this confession willingly. There was no one but myself present at the time. He said that he had taken the letters out of the box. In his confession, he said that the boy Rabone had told him to take any letters he might see in the letter-box addressed to the chief postmaster, or bank letters.

Edwards William Knowles, sworn, deposed : I reside at Napier, and I am a storekeeper. Last Saturday morning, in consequence of a conversation with Mr. Carver, I said to John Boyd, who is in my employment — " You have got yourself in a nice mess, through associating with young Rabone." He said, "How is that?" I said, " It has all come out about this letter affair; Mr. Carver has told me." He said, " I don't see how they can bring me into it. I don't mind telling you all I know about it." He said he had seen young Clifton spending money pretty freely, and that he had asked him where he got the money. Clifton said, "If you won't split on me, I'll tell you something." He said he pledged his word that he would not tell, and that Clifton then told him he had taken a letter out of the postoffice containing £2. He said the reason why he had not informed was because he had given his pledge that he would not, and that young Clifton had afterwards left Mr. Carver's.

George Clifton, sworn, deposed : I am a carter, residing at Napier. lam the father of the boy Richard Clifton, one of the prisoners. He was born in Pinchbaek Pen in Lincolnshire, England, on the 15th day of March. He will be 15 years next birthday. Peter Bourke, sworn, deposed : lam chief postmaster at Napier. I never received the letters containing the money in question — namely, the £2 and the £3. Richard Clifton, on being asked if he had anything to say to the charge, said : I took the bank letter out of the postoffice box. I went into Mr. Carver's store and opened the letter. Then I saw George Rabone, and he looked at the orders which were in the letter. I tore the envelope and the letter and two orders. I showed the other orders to George Rabone, and he said he would send them to his uncle at Wellington, who might pass them at the bank, and he might send the money back from Wellington. I let Rabone have the orders. The next morning, Mr. Brandon came to the post-office and told Mr. Carver that there was a bank letter lost. I took the £2 out of a letter which I took out of the letter-box. I tore up the envelope and the letter, and changed the notes. An hour or two after, John Boyd was with me, and he asked me where I had got all the money to spend, and I told him that I had taken the letter out of the letter-box. He told me I had better go and tell Mr. Carver that I had taken it out. I took the £3 also out of another letter which was in the letter-box. Mr. Carver was in the parlour when I took it. I tore the envelope up and the writing, and changed the money. George Rabone was with me when I was spending some of it at Mr. Blake's.

G-eorge Eabone, on being asked if he had anything to say to the charge, said : When Dick Clifton gave me the letters, he showed me the bills. I told him that I had better give them to my fatherthat he would know better what to do with them than I should. I told him I would tell my father that I had found them, and then, that would not get him into any trouble. He said I could give them to my father, but I was not to tell him that he gave them to me. I gave them to my father, and told him that I found them in Shakespeare-road. My father unrolled them, and said he had better take them to the bank, or give them to Mr. Scully. Afterwards, Mr. Scully came to me, and I showed him where I said I had found them. Some days after I saw Dick Clifton again, and he had a watch. I asked him where he got all the money to buy the watch, and he said Mr. Carver had paid him up. I asked him if his mother allowed him to spend his wages like that, and he said— " Look here ! if you don't tell anyone, I'll tell you ; I took a letter." I told him that I would not tell, but that if he took any more I would tell Mr. Carver. He said he would never take anything more. I knew nothing about the £3 until last Friday, when Mr. Carver told me about it. I never saw more money at a time with Dick Clifton than 2s. 6d. or ss.

This completing the evidence, the Magistrate ordered the discharge of Rabone and Boyd, after severely remanding them for having known of Clifton's conduct without giving any information of it to any one.

Clifton was fully committed for trial at the next sittings of the Supreme Court, and bail taken for his appearance — his father in £20, and two other sureties in £20 each.

Yesterday, upon the prisoner and his sureties appearing to enter with the necessary recognisances, Hammond, one of the bondsmen, stated that Clifton had made a confession to him that the watch he had purchased with the money he had stolen was secreted under the Maori Club, and that he had given a locket and some other things, which he had also bought, to the boy Itabone. The watch was subsequently found and taken possession of by the police. Later in the evening Rabone admitted having received the locket, &c, and shewed the police where they were hidden. Air. Scully took possession of the property and gave the boy again into custody.