PAHIATUA BURGLARY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 6, 6 December 1930, Page 5

PAHIATUA BURGLARY.

THREE MEN PLEAD GUILTY. Three young men, William Gladstone Thomas, Robert Meynall Calvert and William Francis Calvert, the first two from Petone, and the third from Eastbourne, 'p-leaded guilty yesterday at Paliiatua to breaking and entering the premises of the Wairarapa Farmers’ Co-operative Association, Ltd., on November 14, and stealing goods to the’value of £260. : Tliorils and Robert Calvert are electricians, and William Calvert a carpenter. The lastnamed is a married man with one child. Messrs J. D. C. Crewe and E. Whitcombe, J.P.’s, were on the Bench, and Senior-Detective Quirke, of Palmerston North, conducted the prosecution. Senior-Detective Quirke, in outlining the ease, stated that goods to the value of £260 were stolen. The l’ahiatua aaid Palmerston North police investigated the affair and, as a result, tiro Palmerston North police were able to advise the Wellington police tls to whom they thought the culprits were. The Wellington police arrested the three accused, and recovered a portion of the stolen property. The accused would be pleading guilty, which would enable him to shorten the proceedings considerably. A large case packed with the stolen goods was exlnuited in Court, together with two large suit cases, also taken.

Arthur A. Vaughan, manager of the YV-.F.C.A., said that only about i;i93. worth of the goods stolen, had been recovered. Constable Burrell, of Pahiatua, said he had seen two of the accused the day before the burglary. Detective H. H. Russell, of the Palmerston North police, stated in evidence that after the burglary was reported he mado an examination of the' W.E.C.A. premises. Mr Vaughan supplied him with a list of the missing property, a quantity of which was amongst that recovered. At the Palmerston North police station he interviewed the accused. Thoms made a statement about the burglary, which the other two said was correct. Thoms stated that on Thursday, November 13, he picked up Robert Calvert in his car and they drove to Eastbourne to his brother’s place. They there met William Calvert and invited him to go to Hayward’s with them. They told him that they had a job up there, and on the way they got talking about breaking into places and it was suggested that they should take on the W.F.O.A. store at Pahiatua. They drove to Pahiatua and arrived there at about 4.30 and 5 p.m. They parked their car in. a side street of ilie town. Then they walked around the town and had a look around the Farmers’ premises, back and front, and decided to have another look at it that night. They went back to the car and drove to Woodvilte, where they had a cup of tea at the railway station. Returning to Pahiatua at about 9 p.m., they parked the car in a back street near tne school, waiting in it until about midnight, when they shifted the motor ■ to a street about a mile away from the store. They walked back and climbed over a wall into the backyard of the Farmers’ premises. They found the back door secured on the inside with bolts let down into the floor and at the top. Bob Calvert put his hand under the door and lifted the two bottom bolts clear of the floor. He then managed to squeeze in through the bottom of the door, which he opened, and all got into the store. They set to work to collect a large quantity of men’s clothing, boots, shoes, ladies’ clothing, etc., and placed them in suit cases. Some of the goods they tied up in travelling rugs.- They carried the plunder out of the back of the shop and placed it on a lorry which was parked in the yard, and drove it down to where the car had been left. The goods were transferred and they set out for Petone. On the w-ay they discovered that they had lost a big suit case containing shirts, suits, cardigans and other articles, probably having left it outside the Farmers’ premises or where they transhipped the goods. There was no chance of it falling off the car. When they arrived at Petone they drove straight to Eastbourne, where William Calvert took the goods he wanted. They then un-

loaded the remainder, leaving them with Calvert until the Monday, when Bob Calvert and himself (Thoms) took what they wanted to Petone. All the goods found at his place represented his share of the stolen property. There was no woman in their company at Pahiatua, and no other person had anything to do with it. As far as he knew, all the property taken from the Farmers’ had been recovered,, with the exception of that in the suit case lost on the way. Robert Calvert and his brother .William Calvert corroborated the statement, added Detective Russell.

Yesterday the accused admitted that the propertv in Court was what they had stolen from the W.F.C.A., Pahiatua.

The three accused were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.