THEFT OF IRON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26784, 29 May 1948, Page 5

THEFT OF IRON

PRISON TERM IMPOSED CITY POLICE COURT CASES Comment that there was a good deal of pillaging going on, particularly of Government property, was made by Mr J, D. Willis, S.M., in the City Police Court yesterday morning, when sentencing John Henry Tisdall, a rabbiter, aged 33, of Middlemarch, to 14 days’ imprisonment with hard labour. The case had been heard on the previous day. Tisdall was found guilty of the theft of 20 sheets of galvanised roofing iron, valued at £ls 16s Bd, the property of the New Zealand Railways. The magistrate said he would accept the admissibility of the evidence of William George Marr, who had previously pleaded guilty to the theft of the iron, end who, the magistrate said, could be regarded as an accomplice. He would also accept the evidence of the witness Frederick James Driver, who stated that the accused had told him that the least said about the iron the better. After reviewing the evidence, his Worship commented on the fact that the accused had sold 10 sheets of the iron to the builder who had been carrying out extensions to his home, for which he was allowed £4. When asked by Detective C. G. Evans if he had acquired any iron within the past 12 months, the magistrate added, the accused denied that he had done so. Mr W. J. Meade, who appeared for the accused, said that Tisdall enjoyed an excellent reputation in the district in which he lived, and had hitherto borne an unblemished character. He stressed the fact that the accused had not gone looking for the iron, and that he had not made ar offer for it. Counsel added that the accused intended paying for the iron whatever the outcome of the case. In sentencing the accused, the magistrate said that Tisdall and Marr were both partners in the theft, and he could not grant probation to Tisdall. Theft of Tank The theft of a tank valued at £5, the property of the New Zealand Railways, was admitted by Francis Wallace McJKenzie, a plumber, aged 30. Chief Detective Hall, who prosecuted, said that the accused up till April 9 last had been a plumber employed by the New Zealand Railways. On February 20 last he had arranged for a 60-gallon tank to be sent to Owaka. It was not used, and on March 20 he met a man named Shaw, who told him that he wanted a tank. The accused told Shaw that he had one for sale for £5. Shaw understood that the tank was a second-hand one, and sent his son to collect it. When he later found it was a new one he made inquiries, and, being an honest man, he returned it. The accused admitted having sold the tank, but that morning he had deposited £5 with the police as restitution. •Mr C. J. L. White explained that the accused had only been taken, on temporarily by the Railways Department, and it was not a case of a Government servant of long standing betraying his trust. Counsel said the accused had used another tank in the work he was engaged in. He had gone to a party at which there had been drinking, and it was. a coincidence that he had been asked by Shaw if he had a tank to sell. He sold it to him for £5. The accused went away and forgot all about the matter, but on his return he tried to get the tank back, but it was then too late, as the matter had been placed in the hands of the police. He had been quite frank, and the' offence;* counsel stressed, was an isolated one. The probation officer, Mr* E. F. Mosley, said the accused had previously borne a good character. In Imposing a penalty of £lO, the magistrate said that the accused could “ regard himself as particularly fortunate,” but he would take into consideration the special circumstances. Default of immediate payment was fixed at seven days’ imprisonment. Breach of Probation lan Alexander MeAllan, aged 34, who was represented by Mr J. G. Warrington, admitted a charge of a breach of the terms of his release on probation. Counsel explained that the accused’s failure to report to the probation officer was due to a “ load of debt and a load of worry.” The magistrate, in convicting and discharging the accused, pointed out to him that he must report regularly to the probation officer.