POLICE COURT NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19503, 6 December 1926, Page 14

POLICE COURT NEWS.

BEER AND STOUT STOLEN. EMPLOYEES OF CITY FIRM. DETECTIVES' TIMELY CAPTURE. A smart capture by detectives resulted in the appearance in the Polica Court on Saturday of Arthur Lewis Wells, Hugh Reid Porter and Lloyd Blake, charged With stealing bottles of beer and stout from the store of L. D. Nathan and Company, Ltd. Chief-Detective Cummings said complaints had been made for some time about tho frequency with which liquor disappeared from the store and on Friday night detectives visited the building just as the men were coming up from the cellar. As soon as it was learned that there were detectives in the building friends of accused switched off the lights, but the detectives made their cap-ture-in the nick of time. The three men were all in possession of liquor. They had been in the employ of the firm for some time and it was not suggested they had been responsible for all the thefts. There were others who shared in the offences. Blake said the only excuse he could make was that the working conditions were very trying and they were not allowed to touch liquor during working hours. Ho himself had not been feeling in tho best of health and hud taken the bottle of beer. The magistrate, Mr. W. R. McKean, convicted all three men and fined them £4 each, in default 14 days' iimprisonment. Ho would not consider nn application for suppression of names. " I plead provocation," said Peter Bradley, charged with being drunk in Victoria Street and with using obscene language. Tho Magistrate: That is no excuse for using such language. Senior-Sergeant Edwards said accused was drunk inside a shop and used bad language, which he repeated when arrested by Constable Yeoward, and again at the watch-house. "Ho is a pent about the town," he added, "and becomes very abusive when drunk. He has a number of previous convictions for theft and drunkenness, and has served a term at Roto Roa. Since his release he has been about the town, more or less drunk all the time." Accused was sentenced to one month's imprisonment for using obscene language and on the charge of drunkenness was fined 10s, in default 24 hours' imprisonment.