POLICE HUNT ENDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23044, 21 November 1936, Page 14

POLICE HUNT ENDS

WANTED YOUTHS CAPTURED CHARGE OF CAR CONVERSION (Per United Press Association) WAIROA, Nov. 20. A lengthy hunt in the rough hill country behind Te Rapatiki for the two youths who, it was alleged, borrowed a motor car in Palmerston North on Tuesday morning, culminated in the capture yesterday of the youths who were brought to Wairoa and charged to-day before a justice of the peace with theft and with converting a car to their own use. The youths had been roaming about the hills for two nights, and when captured were in an exhausted condition. Their boots had gone and their feet were cut and blistered and they had nothing to eat but a few raw eggs and a little bread which, it is stated, they had procured from a farmhouse, and they appeared relieved when caught hiding in some scrub by Sergeant D Clark and Constable Gatehouse.

The task of the police was no easy one as the country is particularly rough. After scouring the country all day on Wednesday they received advice from settlers, who also played a big part in the hunt, that the youths had been seen among the hills. Early yesterday morning the police set out for the spot where they had been seen. After climbing for about two hours in the terrific heat they eventually found the youths hiding in some scrub. They had a blanket which they had, stolen from a farmhouse. When th? youths appeared in court they were remanded to appear at Palmerston North on a charge of converting a car vglued at £SOO. Their names were suppressed. To the charges of stealing a blanket valued at 5s and stealing 17 gallons of petrol valued at £1 14s they pleaded guilty and were admonished and discharged. Sergeant Clark said that some of the petrol was taken from a tractor and the rest was taken from a drum.