THEFT OF TOBACCO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20474, 28 January 1930, Page 14

THEFT OF TOBACCO.

QUESTION OF PROCEDURE. MAGISTRATE ADJOURNS CASE. [by telegraph,—-own correspondent.] HAMILTON, Monday. An adjournment was made in unusual circumstances in a case brought before Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in the Hamilton Magistrate's Court to-day, when Stanley George Gibb, aged 29, pleaded guilty to a charge of tho theft of cigarettes and tobacco valued at £3 18s 9d, the property of John Parlane. Accused elected to be dealt with summarily when the sergeant stated that he was eligible to bo so dealt with. Sergeant Stark gave evidence that on January 23 he arrested the accused at Frankton, and found the stolen goods in his possession. Accused informed him he had found the tobacco on the street, and had tried to sell it. He did not know to whom the tobacco belonged. A service car office assistant said she took delivery of the parcel from a service car driver in Hamilton «on January 22, and left it in the office, •from which it was taken without authority. When accused pleaded tile magistrate examined his list of previous convictions and remarked that Gibb had been admitted to probation in Dunedin in 1923 for theft. He asked if that offence was an indictable one. Sergeant Stark could not answer the question, and the magistrate observed that it was the business of the police to know, otherwise they could not state whether accused was eligible to be dealt with summarily. He adjourned the case until to-morvow to enable the police to lijako inquiries.