TROUBLE OVER LAMPS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20375, 2 October 1929, Page 14

TROUBLE OVER LAMPS.

EPISODE AT THAMES. "SIMPLY MISCHIEVOUS ACT." [niT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] THAMES. Tuesday. Two men, Charles Aludgford, aged 40, and Hughes Chapman, aged 35, wero charged in tho Alagistrato's Court today with the theft of five street lamps on Sunday night. Sergeant Rowell said he accosted four men, including the two accused, in tho vicinity of the polico station about 10 p.m. on tho night, in question and warned them to desist from noisy and unpleasant behaviour. Their condition was not such as to warrant an arrest for drunkenness. Tho warning was disregarded and the two accused were later found removing electric light bulbs from shop verandahs. "It was very evident," sain Sergeant Rowell, "that they had been drinking not wisely, but too well. Annoying offences of this sort are common at Thames," Air. E. J. Clenrlon, for the accused, suggested that "lie whole affair was a prank. It was not really a case of thieving, but simply the mischievous act of two men under the influence of liquor. Air. F. W. Platts, S.AL, said the facts disclosed scarcely warranted a charge of theft. Ho would refrain from entering a conviction on condition that the two accused prohibited themselves from drinking alcoholic liquor for a year and paid 10s each damages. Air. Clendon asked for the suppression of their names. One had 14 years' and the other 7 years service in the same employment and publication of their names might mean loss of employment. The magistrate intimated that as leniency had been observed in not, recording a conviction he would not order the suppression of tho names of tho accused. There was no reason for assuming they would lose their positions in the absence of a conviction.