MAIL ROBBERY SEQUEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 12

MAIL ROBBERY SEQUEL.

FOSTER BEFORE THE COURT. REMANDED ON TWO CHARGES. ACCUSED DENIES ALLEGATION. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] HAMILTON, Wednesday. A sequel to the robbery which occurred on a mail train between Cardiff and London in February was enacted in the Hamilton Magistrate's Court to-day when a well-built, neatly-dressed man of striking appearance, Joseph Foster, aged 44, ■was charged that on February 2, 1927, in England, ha stole a mailbag containing £IO,OOO in currency, the property of the King. Foster was further charged with receiving a mailbag, containing £IO,OOO in currency, well knowing the same to have been dishonestly obtained. Detective Sweeney said that accused was arrested yesterday on a provisional warrant issued in Wellington. Little was known in New Zealand about the matter. The detective asked that accused be remanded to appear in Wellington on June 15, and added that accused would have to be remanded from time to time until an escort arrived from England. The remand was granted. In a statement to a press representative while in custody to-day Foster said that for the last 15 years he had lived in the Welsh colliery town of Merthyr Tydvil, 24 miles from Cardiff. During the war he served for four years with the Second 20th London Regiment in France. After the war he returned to Merthyr, where he was employed in the mines. He decided to leave Wales in March, having done well at the races, and with his wife and child travelled by the Baradine to Sydney. He came on to New Zealand by the Ulimaroa, arriving in Auckland on May 17. Foster expressed surprise at his arrest, and denied emphatically that he had any connection with the robbery. He came to Hamilton, where he had lived as a youth, to see his mother and to establish himself as a poultry-farmer in the district.