THEFT OF COPPER WIRE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 16 July 1938, Page 9

THEFT OF COPPER WIRE

OFFENCES ADMITTED AUCKLAND, 14th July. ‘This man has been receiving an average income of £2 18s a week from the proceeds of these offences,” said Detective-Sergeant McHugh in the Magistrate's Court when a labourer, Albert Edward Butler, aged 33, appeared before Mr C. R. Orr Walker, S.M. The accused, who was not represented by counsel, was charged with stealing quantities of copper and copper wire valued at £l6l, the property of the Waitemata Electric Power Board. A similar charge, relating to an offence alleged to have been committed on 25th June, and involving a sum of £1 12s ssd, was also preferred. Edward Gilbert Rowntree, purchasing officer employed by the Waitemata Electric Power Board, said that one of his duties was to authorise the sale of scrap copper on behalf of the board. From April or May of last year scrap copper had been missing from the depot where it was stored at Henderson.

A director of a city firm said he had bought copper wire and scrap from the accused at various dates. On several occasions he had asked the accused the source from which he had obtained the copper, and each time the accused had told him it had been honestly obtained by purchase.

“As the evidence shows, this young man has received an aggregate of £162 18s 6d from selling stolen copper,” said Detective-Sergeant McHugh. “He is a married man and attributes his lapses to betting. He had no previous convictions."

The accused, who pleaded guilty to both charges, was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence on the charged involving the sum of £l6l, and on the second charge was convicted and was ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within twelve months. Bail was not allowed.