TRANSACTIONS IN IRON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19557, 9 February 1927, Page 16

TRANSACTIONS IN IRON.

MAN CHARGED WITH THEFT,

STEAMERS' CONSIGNMENTS.

THE JURY FAILS TO AGREE,

The trial of Robert Lamb, aged 40, charged with theft of two lots of galvanised iron, valued together at £lB6, the property of John Burns and Co., Ltd., and alternatively , with receiving the goods, took place in the Supreme Court yesterday. Mr. Meredith, for the Crown, said it was alleged that accused obtained the iron from the wlmrf by an arrangement with a man named Rcston, a foreman carter, who had pleaded guilty to charges against him and had been sentenced. The iron was taken off the steamers Otaki and Te Koa to a plot of land owned by Lamb and was sold to.a man named Hargreaves.

Benjamin Addington Rcston, who was foreman carter for J. R. Herring and Co., carriers and agents for John Burns, Ltd., said he told Lamb in November he could let him have 2t tons of iron from the wharf for £4O. Witness got a driver to take the iron to Lamb's section next to the Trades Hall in Hobson Street. Lamb paid him £3B and later he got tons of iron for Lamb in a similar way. Witness was not paid for the second lot of iron for the theft was discovered the next day.

Robert Burns, managing-director of John Burns and Co., Ltd., said Reston told him he did not sign a chit for the iron, which would have been reported as short from the ship. The wholesale price of iron at that time was from £3O to £32 a ton and there was a scarcity owing to the British strike. Stanley McLeod, checker for John Burns and Co., said 10 cases were short on the Otaki out of 187, and 14 of 198 from the Te Koa. James Hargreaves, merchant, who bought the iron from accused, said the second lot of iron was 3J tons, instead of 2A tons and was a different size from what Lamb had specified. This made witness suspicious, and, seeing "J. 8." on the cases, he went to John Burns and Co. and ..stopped his cheque. The wholesale price of iron in Auckland was controlled by an association.

No evidence was ctUled for the dofence, and Mr. Justice Herdman said the principle charges seemed to be those of receiving rather than the theft charges. Mr. Leary, for the defence, urged that Lamb bought the iron in good faith from a representative of Herring and Co., a well-known and honourable firm.

The jury failed to agreo and was discharged. A retrial was arranged for Monday. ACCUSED ALTERS PLEA. POSTPONEMENT OF SENTENCE, When 'he trial of Arthur Russel Whewell was about to bo returned before Mr. Justice Herdman yesterday, Mr. s > Singe!-, for the defence, asked permission to withdraw accused's plea of not guilty and substitute a plea of guilty. Whewefl was accused of the theft of galvanised iron of tho total value of £235 from an Auckland firm. His accomplice, a young clerk, pleaded guilty in tho lower Court and was sentenced by Mr. Justice Stringer last week. Mr." Meredith, for the Crown, agreed to accept the altered plea, and, His Honor concurring, sentence was postponed until Friday.