A CURIOUS STORY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10847, 12 March 1921, Page 6

A CURIOUS STORY

theft by young WOAIAN.

VALUABLE RING SOLD FOR £3 sa.

The curious story of . a valuable ring, said to be worth £4O, being sold by a second-hand dealer for £3 os, was told in the Supreme Court yesterday, when a young woman, Mary Angus McDowell (Mr C. A. L. Treadwell), was brought before Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, for sentence for theft of the jewel from her mistress’s house.

Counsel, in appealing that the provisions of the Probation Act of 1920 be extended to the prisoner, said that she was only 20 years of age, and although she had previously been convicted on two occasions, was not a bad girl. He submitted that she had succumbed to a sudden temptation. Unfortunately, they had not been able to trace the ring, which McDowell had sold to a second-hand dealer for £2 10s. The latter had sold it for £3 os almost- immediately afterwards. “Surely a record of the sale was kept by the second-hand dealer,” remarked Sir Robert Stout. Mr P. S. K. Macassey (Crown Prosecutor) : Second-hand dealers are not required-to keep records of sales. Sir Robert Stout: Second-hand dealers are licensed? .Mr Macassey: That is so. The licenses are renewed from year to year. Sir Robert Stout: Well, all I can say is that there is something wrong when a second-hand dealer, a man experienced in values, can purchase a valuable ring for £2 * 10s and sell it for £3 fie without being called on to produce a record of the transaction. Mr Macassey: He gave a description of the .supposed purchaser, but we have been unable to locate him. Mr Treadwell then went, on to say that the prisoner was about to be married when she committed the crime. “I don’t know if it would be wise to allow.her to be married,” said Sir Robert Stout. He did not like to send her to prison, because, although the Dominion was unique in the small amount of crime by females, the women who were in gaol were not of the type with whom he would like the prisoner to associate. He would admit her to probation for a period of two years, on condition that she would go -to any institution or employment suggested'by the probation officer. Mr Treadwell: Can she be married? The Chief Justice: I say nothing about that. It is a matter for the probation officer.