ALIEN CHARGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24135, 29 November 1941, Page 13

ALIEN CHARGED

SUPPLY 0P PETROL MAGISTRATE SURPRISED OFFENCES IN AUCKLAND [BY TELEGKAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Friday Surprise was expressed by Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., that an enemy alien should have been given special consideration in obtaining large quantities of petrol by special licence to travel from one end of New Zealand to the other while ordinary citizens were limited to short rations. Replying to a question as to how it came about, Sub-Inspector Hewitt was unable to give an answer, but he agreed with the magistrate's comment, as also did Mr. T. P. McCarthy, who appeared for the defence. Tho defendant was Otto Schnell, who was charged under the Aliens Emergency Regulations with having in his possession more than the six gallons of petrol permitted him as an enemy alien, and with making a false statement to the Oil Fuel Controller. He pleaded guilty and was fined £lO on each charge. Mr. Hewitt said the offences were committed in Auckland, where Schnell had a licence to obtain petrol. He applied for another licence for sufficient petrol to take him to Dunedin. He intended to shift his business, and he still had 17 gallons not drawn from the ordinary licence when it was cancelled. He then drew the 17 gallons, putting 10 of them in the tank and the other seven in a drum, and misled the Oil Fuel Controller by saying he had used those 17 gallons in cleaning up his business in Auckland. Mr. McCarthy said the charge about making a false statement was, in fact, not so bad as it sounded, and the other offence was technical. Both the police and the Oil Fuel Controller knew Schnell was about to leave Auckland and required petrol to do that.