HOUSE RANSACKED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20851, 18 April 1931, Page 13

HOUSE RANSACKED.

MAN DENIES CHARGE,

CHINESE GARDENER'S EVIDENCE

[from our own correspondent.] PUKEKOHE, Friday.

A charge of breaking and entering the house of George Ah Ark, at Pukekohe, on March 18, and stealing money and articles of a total value of £9 14s 3d, was preferred against a young man, Alfred Arthur Gurney, in the Pukekoho Police Court to-day, beforo Messrs. C. K. Lawrie and F. Perkins, J.P.'s. Ho pleaded not guilty. George Ah Ark, Chinese market gardener, Pukekohe, said that on March 18, on returning from Auckland, he discovered that his house had been ransacked and £5 3s in money, a quantity of cigarettes and toibacco, a wristlet watch, two razors, a fountain pen, and four bottles of gin had been taken. He had shut up the house before he left it, and the other Chinese who lived with him had been working about a mile away. Adelaide Meyer gave evidence that on the day in question she saw a car standing outside the gate of the house. Two men were in the car, and a third was standing near it, while a fourth was walking up the drive near the house. She did not think she would be able to identify any of the men. The car was similar to one shown to her by the police to-day. Detective L. Packman said he interviewed Gurney and took a statement from him. At first accused denied any connection with the entering of Ah Ark's house, but later he stated that three men in Auckland on March 18 had asked him to drive them to Pukekohe. He consented, and they went to a house there, but he did not leave the car hiirtself. The other men -went into the house and returned with four bottles of gin, but he did not see any other articles. Gurney reserved his defence, and was committed to the "Supreme Court for trial.