DISPUTED OWNERSHIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20723, 17 November 1930, Page 5

DISPUTED OWNERSHIP.

CROWD AROUND A MOTOR. " GET OUT OF OUR CAR." " This is our motor-car." " It's my motor-car." " (Jet out of our motor-car at once." " I tell you that it is mine. Go away." The man seated at the wheel of a motor-car in a street at Darlinghurst, Sydney, recently, and the woman standing on the footpath were arguing loudly, so loudly that a little knot of curious pedestrians was gathering around. Then a man shouldered his way to the car and said to the man at the wheel, " Get out. It is my car."

The bystanders were becoming confused. There were so m:iny claimants. But it was evident from their smiles and their keen interest in the proceedings that they were finding them pleasantly diverting.

It was left for three constables to unravel tho question of ownership. It transpired that Airs. 11. Nelson was shopping when she saw' her hushand's car parked ori the opposite side of the road. She crossed over, and was amazed to find a stranger in the act of starting tho machine. She was arguing with him as to who owned the vehicle when her husband appeared and removed the stVanger from tho car. » Then a constable, who was off duty, interposed and detained tho stranger, who still contended that ho honestly believed that the car belonged to his wife and consequently equally belonged to him. All were still arguing when another constable joined the group, and snid ho had seen tho stranger acting suspiciously in another motor-car previously. " And I've been watching you, rny lad," he said. \

Finally a third constable appeared and all adjourned to tho police station, where the matter of ownership was finally decided. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson drove home in tho car and the stranger remained at. the police station, charged with illegally using a motor-car.