BOARDING HOUSE THEFTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19390, 27 July 1926, Page 13

BOARDING HOUSE THEFTS.

YOUTH SENT TO BORSTAL. "LAZY AND INCORRIGIBLE." Described by the Rev. Jasper Calder as lazy and incorrigible, Albert Rae, aged 18, pleaded guilty in the Police Court yesterday to stealing a cabin-trunk, valued at £l6 19s, and a razior and a cruet, valued at 15s 6d. Accused was before the Court last week on a charge of stealing 16s 2d, the property of the Kewman Transport Company, and was remanded for sentence. Senior-Detective Hammond said the cabin-trunk was stolen from a boarding house in Upper Queen Street, where accused was staying. He removed it from the basement to his room. The other articles were stolen from a boarder. "I think that this is a genuine case for the Borstal Institution," said Mr. Calder. "This young man lias not shown any sympathy for his mother, who now prays and begs that he should be sent somewhere where he will be made to work." Mr. Calder added that lie appeared for Rae some time ago, when, along with other youths, he was charged with raiding a watermelon patch. All the youths charged had availed themselves of the opportunity given them, with the exception of accused. Accused's father was at present an inmate of the hospital shelters, where he was dying with miner's phthisis. Accused was beyond the control of his mother. Mr. W. J. Campbell, the probation officer, said he also considered that accused should be sent to the Borstal Institution. The magistrate, Mr. Povnton. committed Rae to the institution for three years.