CONVERSION OF TRUCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24910, 8 May 1942, Page 6

CONVERSION OF TRUCK

YOUNG MAN SENT TO GAOL In the City Police Court yesterday, Mr H. W. Bundle sentenced Charles Swinburne. aged 25. who was represented by Mr C. J. L. White, to six weeks’ Imprisonment on a charge of unlawfully converting a motor truck to his own use. Outlining the charge, Detective Sergeant Hall said that the accused, who had been In the employ of the complainant. drove the truck from Tuatapere to Invercargill, where he left it. He then came on to Dunedin and sent a telegram ito the owner telling him what he had done and where he had left the truck. The accused, Mr Hall added, had only recently served a term of imprisonment for a similar type of' offence.' My White said that when the accused left Tutapere he had no money, and had used the truck to get to Invercargill, The fact that he had notified the owner where to find It seemed to be a mitigating circumstance.

At the present time, the magistrate said, when passing sentence, the unauthorised use of motor trucks and cars was a more serious matter than it was in peacetime. Petrol was an Important factor in national economy, and should not be wasted.