LOSSES FROM YACHTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17538, 2 August 1920, Page 7

LOSSES FROM YACHTS.

JUVENILE OFFENDERS. A number of complaints from owners of yachts and launches on the Heme Bay waterfront had their sequel in the Juvenile Offenders Court on Saturday, •when four boys appeared before Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., on charges including thefts of putty, paint, table knives, clothing, mast and spars, and wilful damage to a dinghy. The oldest of the party, a lad of 14 years, admitted that on June 1 he and a companion took a dinghy from tho rear of a boat-shed. He opened the shed with keys in his possession and took oars and rowlocks. They rowed to Tibb's Beach and towed a 16ft sailing boat back to Heme Bay beach. On June 3 the yacht was leaking, so they used some putty and paint from the shed to stop the inflow of water. The mast and spars were sold to the father of one of the boys for the sum of £1 10s. The dinghy was not replaced, but left under a bank, which fell on the boat and broke the planking. On the following Saturday the four boys went aboard a yacht anchored near the Ponsonby Wharf and took a basin and a mug ashore and left them on the beach. They also took a jib from a boat in Cox's Creek. The magistrate placed the leader on informal probation for 12 months, and the younger boys were placed on informal probation for six months. The parents were each ordered to pay costs, and refund damages done by the boys. Another boy who took a dinghy from Cox's Creek and abandoned it on an adjacent beach, from whence other lads moved it further away, was admonished and discharged, with an order for costs against his guardian.