THE POLICE SCANDAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2664, 5 April 1905, Page 27

THE POLICE SCANDAL.

ARREST OF ANOTHER CONSTABLE. MOSES AND M'DONAIiD COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. BAIL FIXED AT £1600. t, _ On Thursday morning Constable Edward Quill, a marriei man and an ex-con-tingenter,- who has been under suspension for some time -on suspicion in connection with the recent robberies, was arrested by Detective Herbert, end was. brought before the bench later on, Mr C. C. Graham, S.M., presiding. Qu.ll was charged with having, on or about March 15, at Dunedin, -stolen one rug, two rolls tweed, one hairclipping machine, 19 boot laces, 10 sticks tobacco, 3 pipes, 1 umbrella cover, 1 pair men's gloves, 3 boxes shaving soap, 1 silvcrinounted purse, 1 shaving brush, 1 amber cigar holder, 1 amber cigarette holder, 1 foot- rule, 1 pocket knife, 2 files, 23 bits, 6 packets envelopes, and 1 bottle perfume, the property of some person or persons ■unknown, and valued at £10. Mr Emslie appeared for accused. On the application of the sub-inspector the accused was remanded 1 for a week. Bail was allowed, accused in his own recognisance of £100, with two securities for £50 each. The arrest of Quill accounts for two of the three men suspended, Osborne being on remand. THE CASE AGAINST MOSES AND MDONALD. When the court was opened the rush for seats in the portion of the courtroom open -to ihe public resembled the struggle at a theatre door, and after all the seats were filled the orderly was obliged to close the doors in the face of as many more seeking admission as were already inside. Another rush took place after the luncheon adjournment, and all the seats were filled within three minutes of the opening of the .doors. Constables James M'Donald and Thomas Moses were then charged 1 with, about the 9th inst., breaking and •entering the warehouse of the Drapery Importing Company, and stealing therefrom two hair brushes, one' clothes brush, one silver match box, two so«r» boxes, one pair of gold sleeve links, one manicure set. one purse, three fur necklets, four umbrellas, five wool mats, two" wool rugs, "two Axminster rugs, two chenille curtains, and one clock, the property of the D.I.C, and of the total value of £40. Mr J. F. M. Fraser appeared for the prosecution, and he was accompanied by Cbmmissiojier Dinnie and Inspector O'Brien. Mr A. O. Hanlon appeared for the two Accused. THE CROWN PROSECUTOR'S OPENING. In opening the case for the Crown, Mr Praser said : In this case the two accused are members of the Police Force, stationed at Dunedin. The offence whicih it is , alleged they committeed is one, fortu- j Hately, that is rare in the criminal annals of this colony. The police constable is practically the custodian of the property of the public; he has . .necessarily peculiar opportunities of committing offences such as the one we are dealing with — oppor- j ftunities, as I have said, which are rarely i abused. The commission of an offence of , this kind necessitates violation of the oathj of service made by every constable to his ' Majesty the King. It is one also that j may be the means of casting suspicion upon j a very large number of innocent employees. It is unnecessary for me, sir, to enlarge upon the enormity of the offence, ■but I feel certain the court fully appreciates it. The only way to deal with an offence of this kind is to adopt the methods ! of the skilled surgeon treating a case of cancer, and using the knife unsparingly ■"until every trace of the disease is eradicated. The best efforts of the- force in this case have been directed to that end. Dealing with the facts that I propose to lay before you, which, I submit, point to the undoubted guilt of the accused, I would point out that the offence is alleged to 'have been committed in connection with the warehouse of the Drapery Importing Company, commonly called the D.I.C The premises of the D.I.C have a frontage to Rattray street and also a frontage to j High street. It is the practice of the j management to entrust the task of looking up these premises to an employee named Thomas Henry Wilden, who will explain to the court in detail how he carries out his duties. He locks up the premises, and , is the last to leave. He puts the keys into a tin box, of which he retains the key, takes the box to the Police Station, and there locks that tin box in another box. of which he also retains the key. The following morning he goes to the Police Station, •unlocks the box and takes away the tin t>ox. During the dayfime the keys are •hanging in the manager's office. With ' two exceptions Wilden has locked up these premises continuously for the last 12 months. The last time his duties were delegated to another person was on March 4, a Saturday, when his duties were per'iormed by a Mr John Vivian for reasons .that would be explained. The formalities of locking up the keys in the boxes wero not complied with on that occasion, with ■the result that the keys remained at the 'Police Station from Saturday till Monday morning. On March 8 there was a somewhat extensive theft committed at the D.I.C, and that theft is immediately connected with the present prosecution. On the night of March 8 the defendant Moses was on night duty with a beat in proximity to the D.I.C. and the accused M'Donald was on duty at the Central Sifiation. During *^3 night M'Donald wouid be visited fcr?o

or three times by his sergeant, who will give evidence, and during intervals between . the sergeant's visits M'Donald might very well be absent I>orn 15 to 20 minutes, which ' would afford him ample time to commit 1 the crime that he is charged with com- ' mitting jointly with Moses. That crime was reported to the police, and a crime re ; ■ port was issued which reached the hands of the two accused ; so that on that date they would be aware that the crime had been discovered. The next thing that happened was that on March 15 one Robert M'Quillan, who is a grocer carrying on business at the corner of Castle and Hanover streets, and who knows the accused Moses — in fact, is his next door neighbour, — says that about 7 on the morning of March 15 he saw Moses in uniform in his back yard packing some goods in a case, and he brought the ca-se and a valise to M'Quillan's back door and said he was going away for a holiday on the following Saturday, and asked M'Quillan if 1 c would take charge of these parcels during his absence, as they vere wedding presents, and he didn't want t<> lose them. Mr M'Quillan, who had not | the slightest suspicion, took them into Us I premises, -and retained possession until the following morning, when, I presume, his suspicions were aroused, and he reported the matter and put the case back into Moses's yard, and stibsequently saw Detective Herbert take the ipoods sway. These two packages, far from containing wedding i presents, as alleged, were packed full of property alleged to be stolen from the D.1.0. The hurried packing end removal of thi? goods at that early hour of the morning ' was suspicious- I use The word " hurried" i because, as a matter of fact, Moses came 1 off duty at 9 o'clock in the morning. He came off duty at 9, when he would have i had ample time to pack the goods had ! there been no necessity for extra haste. j He was on duty from 5 a.m till 9 a.m., ', and had no right to be at his. house packing ' these goods ; it was a breach of duty on his part. He left his tieat to go to his house. His reason for endeavouring to remove the traces at that hour he gives himself, for on March 15, while he was under detention at the Police Station, he said " Jack Reddington tcld me this morning: at 7 o'clock to get rid of anything that didn't belong to jne, as the detectives were going to search iry house." His house was searched by the detectives, and there was a very large amount of property found there, alleged to . ■be stolen. The house of the accused i M'Donald was also searched later on. i Before I leave Moses — I shall leave the J detectives to tell thee own story — I may ' say you will find the detectives will say that in addition to these goods that had been removed to M'Quillan's there were others, obviously secreted, in the house. Articles were secreted under the mattress and so on. On March 15 the chief detective sa - -v M'Donald. and told him he was j suspected of breaking into the D.I.C on J the night of March 8 and stealing certain furs, etc. He was told that the detectives 1 wished to search his house. On the way to ' the house Detective Herbert said, "If you have any stolen property in your house it ■will be better for you to hand it over to | us than let us discover it. and I will menption it in my report." Detective Cooney j was there, and in his presence M'Donald replied there was nothing. The house was searched in tho presence of M'Donald and his wife, and a very large amount of pro- ■ perty was taken possession of. After searching the ro>*ns on the ground floor, a ; ladder was obtained and the attic portion \of the house was reached through the i ordinary manhole, and the search was continued there. In the corner formed by the chimney the detectives found two large 1 bundles of goods. They bore no evidence of having been there for any lengthened j period ; thero was little or no dust on J them. These packages contained, amongst ! other articles, certain furs that were clearly 1 identified and proved to be stolen from the D.I.C. with other articles that are wholly or partially, identified. These articles will be deposed to by witnesses, employees of ! the D.'I.C, and after hearing their evidence ' there will, I think, be very little doubt left ill your mmd — in fact, there will be no doubt — as to the identity of the articles. For instance, each man has a chenille curtain; they are odd, and in the D.I.C. ! was found in each case the other curtain, | making the pair. It is unnecessary at this stage to speculate as to how the crime was j committed, whether duplicate keys were ' obtained, or whether ordinary methods of i opening locks adopted by the ordinary criminal were followed. The accused J M'Donald throws 8 little light on the subj ject, because he stated that the keys of the 1 D.I.C, kept at the Police Station, were I not us»d to get into the D.I.C He prae- , tically admits getting into the D.I.C by ! some meaas, and volunteers the information that that means was not by the use of the ordinary keys. It is unnecessary for us to speculate at this stage as to how entrance was effected. I shall now proceed to lead my evidence All I have to do is to satisfy you that there is a prima facie case made out against both accused such as to justify your Worship in committing them for trial before the Supreme Court. Of course the onus of proving that prima facie case rests with the Crown. I submit that, from the evidence I have opened, it will be clear that the Crown will not have I the slightest difficulty in discharging that i onus. THE EVIDENCE. Thomas Henry Wilden, carpet-layer, employed by the D.1.C., said he resided at Anderson's Bay district, in Musselburgh. ' He had been eight years in the employ of j the company, and during that period be had performed duties in connection with locking up. He always went to the manager's office -about 5.45 for the keys, which were left there during the day. He then commenced locking up the premises, I seeing that all windows and apertures were ' closed. He then locked all the inner doors, went through the workrooms to see that lights were out, and left finally by the High street door. That was the last door to be locked. It closed with a spring lock, and witness "always went out accompanied by the shopwalker, Mr Birley. Witness then pulled' the door shut, and then tried it with his knee, in order to see that the lock was holding. Then, in the presence of Mr Birley, h© put the keys in a small tin box and locked the box, retaining the key. He then took the box to the Police Station, and placed it inside a wooden box on tho counter in the Police Station. This box was affixed to the counter. Witness then locked the wooden box, and carried the key with him. This was the ordinary routine on week clays. On Saturdays the premises wero closed at 1 o'clock, and the same routine was observed. About 7.3Q every morning he I

opened the wooden box and took cut the tin box, and then went to the door of the shop in High street, unlocked tho tin box and opened the door, the front door key being attached to the others in ihe tin box. After entering the front door witness closed it again, and opened the inside door, and then placed all the keys, with the exception of that to the tin box and tho wooden box, in the manager's office, and then tho premises were opened to tho street at about a quarter to 8. About tho beginning of March of this year witness went to Oamaru on the company's business. When ho left he gave the keys of the boxes to John Vivian. On March 11 he returned to Dunedin, and got the keys back, and since then he had continued his duties of locking up. On no occasion had witness, to his knowledge, left either th« tin box or wooden box at the Police Station unlocked while the keys were contained therein.

John Vivian, packer, employed by the D.1.C., said he had occupied that position for four years, and he resided in Canongafce street. In the absence of Wilden witness performed the duties of locking up. Witness adopted the same routine stated by tho last witness. On soma occasions witness had not tho keys to lock cither the tin box or the wooden box. When witness had not these small keys they were in the possession of Wilden. Sometimes Wilden was hurried away on some job, and did not leave the keys with witness. He remembered Wilden going away in the latter part of February, and he had taken over the two small keys from Wilden. On March 8 witness had locked up the warehouse at about 6.15, and the windows and doors -were all secured, leaving Mr Harron, one of the buyers, Inside. Mr Harrop was busy at tho time. Witness locked both the tin box and wooden box at the Police Station, and retained the keys of the boxes. Next morning (March 9) he went for the shop keys. In the interval the box keys had remained in his possession. He found both boxes locked, as he left them, and found the warehouse all locked up as he had left it the previous evening. On Saturday, March 4. witness left the keys with Mr Birley, the shopwalker, who was working, with some other men, on the premises. Witness left only the keys of the warehouse with Mr Birley, and witness retained the two box keys. On the following Monday witness went for the keys in the ordinary way, and. of course, found the boxes unlocked. The tin box had string tied around it. Witness remembered another occasion, about nine months ago, when the boxes were left unlocked, but before that, on other occasions, he had found the boxes unlocked.

To Mr Hanlon : There may have been four or five occasions on which the boxes had been left unlocked.

Elijah Henry Harrop, buyer for the fancy goods department of the D.I.C, residing at Roslyn, said he was on the premises on March 8 after 6 o'clock till about 7.50, working alone. He left the premises by tho High street door, closing it behind him. He tried the doer after shutting it, and found that the lock had .closed properly. It was not an unusual thing for witness to be on the premises after hours, as he had to return to work at night at certain seasons of the year.

Francis Birley, shopwalker at the D.I.C, stated that at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday, March 4, he locked up the premises. He had been in charge of a gang of men spring-cleaning, and he was the last to leave the premises. He left by the High street door, closing it so that it locked, and took the keys to the Police Station. He put them in the tin box, and put that in the wooden box; the boxes were not locked, as witness did aot possess the keys of the boxes. He could not say whether or not he tied the tin box up with twine.

William Bach, employed by the D.I.C. as head of the mantle, fur, and silk, etc., tfepartments : On March 8 there were new furs on view in the show eases. They were left about the show room when the premises were closed that night. At 9.30 next morning witness looked for certain furs. He found some were missing — namely, four neekte-ts and one muff. There were two long brown Marmot stoles with tails, on-e martin oravat fur, and 1 one short martin fur, — a round martin muff missing. He also missed certain newly-opened-un umbrellas which had disappeared between March 8 and 9. The fur now produced and marked "exhibit Al " he recognised as the same fur he had marked a few clays before it disappeared by the style of it and the small ticket on the fur bearing the figures 6-33 in witness's writing. This was on-e of the marmot stolen referred to. The fur produced and marked " exhibit A 2 ' he recognised by the style and colour as being one of the furs taken from the D.I.C. premises ; this was the other martin stole referred to. The fur marked " exhibit A3 " was a martin short necklet, and he recognised this by the tails, which were stitched on top of the fur. It also belonged to a set of furs, and the muff of the set was still in stock. The two ladies' umbrellas marked "exhibits A - and A 5," produced, he recognised by the trade stamp on the inside cap of .the umbrella as being the property of the D.I.C. They l-esembled some of the umbrellas which disappeared from the stock between March 8 and 9. They wero both quite new umbrellas, and had never been used. He recognised one by its handle. Both were marked specially macla for the D.I.C. The next two umbrellas, marked "MI" and " M 2." he recognised, one by its ppculiar black silvermounted stick and the other by the stamp inside.

There was no croas-oxamiuation

Frederick William Bolt, residing at Mornington, staled he was a warehouseman in the employ of the D.I.C. On Monday, March 20, he attended at the Police Station, and was shown certain articles produced by Detective Herbert. Amongst others he was shown the chenille curtain (green), produced, marked '"exhibit A 6." He identified this curtain as being similar to curtains slocked by the D.I.C The=e curtains were purchased in pairs only, and were pold in pairs. He still had in stock tho fellow of the curtain produced, and now produced it. Tho firm never sold an odd curtain on any account, aud he therefore, -said, mo-t emphatically, that "exhibit A 6 " belonged to the D.I.C. Tho chenille curtain (electric blue), and marked "M, 3,"' was c f a similar class as the green, but- of lower quality. It was ateo an odd curtain, and he> produced the fellow to that aKo from his stock; this, enabled him to the ciutniu belonged to the D.I.C. The three r<nl sheepskin mat* produced, marked" v< A 7, AB, anT A 9." he identified a= belonging to the D.T.C by rcp-on cf the private mark put on the mati hy witness. Witness had also seen tho hearthrue marked "A 10" at

the Police Station. He could only Fay there were similar rugs m stock at the D.I.C, but in the absence of any distinguishing mark he could not swear the rug came from the D.I.C. stock. The three woollen mate marked " M.4, M.5, and M.6 " ho identified as being the proper iy of the D.I.C, and he knew the goods by tho private mark. Tie hearthrug marked " J.Y1.7 '' lie could not identify, as there was no distinguishing- mark upon it. He believed it to be on© of* the D.I.C. rugs, because he did not thmk any other firm had them in stock.

Mr Hanlon did not cross-examine

Bessie May Pearce, in charge of the fancy goods department at the D.I.C, said ohe went to business on Thursday, March 9, at 9 a.m. She had been at her duties on the previous day. It was her x>raetice to dust, and set out stock in the morning. On March 9 she missed certain articles out ot stock, and reported the matter to the manager. She remembered missing one large bottle of scent, one nickel-backed cloth brush, one nickel matchbox, two silverbacked hair brushes, one metal soap bex, one celluloid soap box, one pair gold sleevelinks, one manicuic set. The hair brushes missed were not a pair. She was shown certain articles at the Police Station, including two hair brushes now produced. The brushes produced resembled the ones she had missed, and she had in stock the fellow of each of them, and produced same. The nickel-backed clothes brush produced resembled the one she missed, which formed part of a set. She found the set broken on the morning of March 9, and she now produced the set, which enabled her to identify the brush produced as the one taken away on the Bth or 9th of March. The large bottle of scent was missed also c n March 9. It was in a case which was not taken away, and which was now produced. The bottle of scent shown to her at the Police Station, and now produced, exactly fitted the case. The celluloid and metal soap boxes produced resembled the ones missing. The blue leather, silver-mounted purse produced was not missed until sho saw it at the police station on March 2,0. She identified the purse as having been in possession of the D. I.C, and, as far as har knowledge went, it had never been sold by her department. The silver matchbox and the gold sleeve links produced were similar to ones that were missed from the D.I.C. The links were missed as having been taken out of stock. The manicure set produced resembled the set taken on March 9. An ornamental brass-mounted clocik produced was missed from the stock, but witness did not know it was missing until she saw it at the police station. She did not know either of the two accused by sight. Winifred Carroll, shop assistant at the D.I.C, said she had heard the evidence given by Miss Pearce, and agreed with it. She recognised the blue purse produced. It was old stock, and she knew it well. It had not been, to her knowledge, sold. Robert M'Quillan, grocer, said his shop was at the corner of Castle and Hanover streets. He knew the accused Moses, who resided in a cottage next to witness's shop. On March 15, about 7 o'clock, Mo-es came into witness's shop in uniform. Mcsessaid he had 10 or 12 days' holiday, and that he was going up north to see his father. Moses asked for a box suitable for packing wedding presents in, and witness gave him one. Moses then went into his own premises, but returned shortly afterwards with the box packed and nailed up, and a valise •which also seemed full. Moses left both vith witness, and told him they contained ■wedding presents, and he left them with witness because there were only common leeks on hij cottage, and the presents would not be secure there. Next morning Detective Herbert came along, witness having reported the matter, and took charge of the gcods.

James Dick, of the firm of Dick and M'Keehnie, Goorge -street, said he had examined the umbrellas "Ml" and ( 'M2," but they had never formed part of his firm's stock.

Chief Detective Herbert stated that, with Detective Cooney, on " March 9 he inquired into the circumstances of the D.I.C. robbery, reported to the police by the manager on that date. On March 10 he issued what were known as crime reports, and at about 11 p.m. of that day he handed several copies to the accused AT 'Donald, in the presence of Moses, in the watch-house, and in the presence of Sergeant Ryan. Each of the accused took a copy and read it, and were thereby made familiar with the particulars of the robbfry. In the crime report witness put down the value of the goods at £50. Moses, on reading that, said "£SO; it will bo a long while before my wife will be able to wear furs." From information received, accompanied by Detective Cooney, he saw M-oses about 10 a.m. on March 15, ?,nd called him out to the street from the police station and told ,him they had information -that he had stolen the furs and other things from the D.I.C. on March 9. Witness also liad he had reason to believe ho (Mos.es) had also committed othev theft-. Mo^es replied. " I must be notorious." Witness and Cooney went with Moses to Mose-'s house in Castle street, and the three of them went in, Moses unIcckiner the door. In the house witness and Detective Cooney found all the goods produced in court and marked "M " Under the maitre*s of Mose.Vs bed Coonev found the Iwo ladies' umbrellas marked "M,"' a gentleman'% umbrella, and a walking-stick, and witness said to Moses: "You see, it's all up now, Moses: where did you get these?" Mc?es replied : " I got them one niaht out of Dick and M'Keehme's. I found their shop open." Accused also mentioned tho names of two men who, he said, were with him at the lim*». Witness : " Did you rerort finding the shop open?"' and IvToscs replied in the negative. Thcv took pcs=e-~-sion of a very large quant'ty of mi^cellareous articles in addition to the exhibit mentioned, and they were all ivw snoods. They brought Moses to the police station and had him detained in the detective office, and then went to the watch hou^o and told M'Donald that they wanted to search hit hou=e for good* «tol^n from the D.I.C. M'DmiaM came with them, ami rm the way to the house v. it ness said, '"If you lioap puythinp; in the- hou-c that i> stolon find it your-olf, and hand it to v-: it will be very much bettor for you ilian for us to find it nncl I will mention <ho fact in mv report. " They searched M'DonaKl's house in hia and his wife's presence, and took possession of a large number of miscellaneous new articles and m-inv of them wore exactly similar to those found fit Moses's house. In the seullrrv they saw a manhole in the coiling and Cooney got a ladder and went up to the. space between Hie. ceiling and roof, and passed down two bundles of new prKvl". one m a waterproof carriage rug, the other in a sunny Bag. There- was no

accumulated dust on the bundles. Witnes. opened the gunny bag and found therein tLie fuis marked "Exhibit A," and he then said to M'Donald, "These are tho D.I.C. furs, Jim." and accused replied, " Yes, they are.' Before Cooney went up to ih» attic witness said, "Tell us truly if there is anything up tli-ere." and M'lJoiiald replied. "No; J wa» never up there in my Jif-e, and if there is anything there I know nothing abouc it " They brought those goods, and others that were not included in this case, to the Police Station, and they brought M'Donald aKo. M'Donald was detained in the Detective Office with Moses till 9 o'clock, when lie was charged with the offence and locked up. Before leavingtho house the accused M'Donald said the D.I.C keys which were kept at the Police Station wore never vied to obtain admission to the premises. All the D.I.C. goods marked '"A" were in the bag passed down from the ceiling. The articles referred to by Miss Pearce were nearly all found in the gixnny bag. Ti:e bottle of scent, the metal and celluloid soap boxes, the silver matchbox, pair of gold sleeve-links, and brass clock were all in the gunny bag. The sheepskin rugs and mats and the hearth rugs were in the other bundle, tied up in the watei proof carriage rug with other artrcles that were not mentioned in the present charge. On the following morning; to the arrest, March 16. witness went to M'Quillan's house, and found in Moses's yard a ca=e and a valise filled with gcods, mostly new. M'Quillan pointed out the case. The case contained the mats and rugs marked "Exhibits M," and in addit'on tho chenille curtain produced and a lai-ge quantity of other n-rw articles not iacluded in the present information, and many of them similar to those found at M'Donalcl's.

Detective Cooney paid he assisted in these investigations with Chief Detective Herbert. He had heard the evidence of Chief Detective Herbert, and corroborated it so far as it related to anything that took place in his (Cooney's) presence.

Constab'e Gale said that on March 15 he> heard a conversation between Moses and M'Donald at the Police Station. Moses said, "Jack Reddington told mo at 7 o'clock this morning that if I had any stuff in the house to get rid of it, as the 'd.'s* were going- tor-make- a search." Moses also said, " I have nothing in nay house, and if I had I have plenty of chances to gst rid of it by throwing it over the wharf." M'Donald then said, " It's Reddington that has done this, and if I'm in it he comes in too." Moses said, "By yes ; the dirty , he has done it." That was all witness heard.

Sergeant Ryan stated that he was in charge of the constables on night duty in the cty on March 8 froni 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on March 9. The accused Moses was on night duty, and was on No. 3 heat. The nearest corner of that beat was at tho corner of Princes .o.nd Rattray streets. The accused M'Donald was on watchhouse duty the same night, and his duty was confined to the watchhouse. It would be part oE Moses's duty, on the beat he was on, to report himself at tfie Police Station three or four times during the nigbt. Witness visited Moses at 11.5 p.m. on March 8, and 12.15 and 2.50 a.m. on March 9, in Princes street. Witness brought the men off duty"--at 9 a.m. He saw M'Donald at 11.30 on the Bth and 2 a.m. on March 9.

Sergeant Higgins said that at 5 o'clock on the morning of March 15 Moses was one oi the men who went out on duty under witness. Moses had No. 4 beat. Moses bad no right whatever to be near hie hous» at 7 a.m. on that day: it was off his beat. Witness visited him at 6.45 a.m. in High street and instructed him to attend to> r patrol duty round the wharves and to attend at the Railway Station when the trains were leaving. Witness visited Moses also at 8.5 a.m. at the Railway Station. This closed the case for the Crown. Mr Hanlon said he had no remarks to make at this stage.