PETROL OFFENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25048, 11 November 1944, Page 8

PETROL OFFENCE

TRANSFER OP LICENCE TWO MEN BEFORE COURT "Too many of these cases which come before the Court show a complete lack of responsibility on the part of the public," said Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., yesterday, when fining a soldier, Trevor H. Tindle, who pleaded guilty to a charge of' assigning a petrol licence to another man. Detective-Ser-geant Aplin said defendant was a soldier on furlough who had* been granted a petrol licence for 10 gallons. After using five gallons he had given his licence to a man named Norgrove. "i am afraid that the public think it is lair game to get petrol by any means possible," said the magistrate. "They do not seem to realise the purpose of the Oil Kuel Emergency Regulations. Servicemen must understand that they cannot pass on the privilege of a petrol licence to others." Defendant. was fined £3 and costs. Roy Stanley Norgrove (Mr King) admitted charges of seeking to purchase eight gallons of petrol, not authorised by the regulations, and making a false statement in an application tor four gallons of petrol with intent to deceive The Oil Fuel Controller. DetectiveSergeant Aplin said defendant altered figures 011 the licence to make it appear that there were eight gallons to draw instead of five. Counsel said defendant had been given a licence by Tindle in return for taking his mother out while he had been overseas. He was a respectable man and had not previously been in trouble. "There have been far too many breaches of these regulations," said the magistrate. A fine of £2O was imposed. POWER DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERS' DISCUSSION n WAIKATO RIVER PROJECTS iOC» HAMILTON, Friday A regional conference of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Institution of Engineering was opened in Hamilton Technical School Hall tonight. The chairman of the branch, Mr J. A. B. Hellaby, presided over an attendance of 300, including numerous women and many Auckland engineers. Mr Hellabv said that if, as had been suggested, the total capacity of the Waikato hydro-electric schemes could be absorbed by Auckland and industries would have to think about establishing; themselves in the South Island, the engineers would have to devise means of conveying power from the South Island. People of Auckland, he added, could not tolerate the idea that the city had any limits to its industrial development. A civic reception was extended to the gathering by the Mayor, Mr H. 1"). Caro. The principal subject discussed was I the hydro-electric schemes based 011 the Waikato River. Mr A. C. A. Caldwell, district electrical engineer, said the Government proposed to erect a further eight power schemes between Karapiro and Taupo, which —with Arapuni and Karapiro, but excluding Horahora, which would be inundated by the Karapiro lake —would generate 811,400 kilowatts. A ten-year plan included the completion of Karapiro and the construction of new schemes at Maraetai, Whakamaru and Ohakuri. Tenders had been called for a supply of machinery for the Maraetai project. Mr ,T. D. T. Gilkison, engineer in charge of Karapiro, said it was hoped that the Karapiro scheme would be in operation by the, winter of 1046. Manpower was the biggest obstacle to progress, both in respect to quantity and quality. All the machines were expected to be on hand by the scheduled time. Visiting engineers will inspect Karapiro tomorrow and will be given a detailed description of the scheme. MOTOR-CAR WHEELS CHARGE OF RECEIVING ACQUITTAL OF ACCUSED Four charges of knowingly receiving stolen property were denied by Sydney Joseph Morgan,j aged 30 (Mr Wallace), before Mr Justice Fair yesterday. The charges referred to five motor-car wheels and tyres, tubes and hub caps of a total value of £64. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr V. R. Meredith, said the offences were alleged to have taken place 011 August 14 and 18, and about that time a band of young thieves was going about robbing cars at the side of the road. Evidence would bo given by owners who had lost wheels in this way, and also by the young thieves, who would say they had sold these parts to accused at a totally inadequate price. When interviewed by detectives accused gave two different explanations of how he came to have the wheels. He said his own car had been stripped of its wheels, and two boys came to his place offering to sell him wheels to help him out. He took the Wheels, but had not yet paid for them. At first he said he got the tyres from a city garage. i Evidence was given on the lines indicated bv Mr Meredith. One of the youths who had been stripping cars said they thought it would be a good joke to sell Morgan stolen tyres. Morgan had no reason to suspect that the tyres were stolen, or that they were a gang of car thieves. His Honor suggested that anybody in Auckland would have been suspicious of wheels brought to him at night as these wheels were to accused, and would have assumed that they had been dishonestly obtained. Would anybody of ordinary intelligence, he asked, have accepted as satisfactory tho explanation that the boys gave? The jury found accused not guilty after a retirement of less than an hour and he was discharged. AIR FORCE PHOTOGRAPHS Some particularly line shots of aircraft in {light are included in the exhibition of photographs depicting the activities of the R.N.Z.A.I*, in the Pacific which was opened yesterday at Milne and Choyce's premises. The exhibition gives a wide and adequate coverage of the conditions and kind of service in the area, maintenance, repair and entertainment sidelights being included. Many of the photographs are very large, the biggest prints being up to eight or nine feet long and four feet deep, while others have been tinted in the natural colours. The scenes illustrated are typical of the scenery and activity at Suva, the Solomons ahd the Hebrides, a striking example being of a maintenance section at work 011 Bougainville against the background of tho smoking volcano of Mount Bagana. The exhibition will remain open for a week. It attracted a constant stream of visitors yesterday.