THE BLANKET CASE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14985, 12 August 1919, Page 3

THE BLANKET CASE.

TWO MEN FINED. ? (Per Press As;;nciatlnn.) ■ WANGANUI, last night. At the Magistrate's Court to-day. Captain John Connor, master of th<; i"(j>.ter Morninc; Light, and David Bertie. Joseph Gibson, and John Jackson, \yati>rside workers, were charged, on the. 'inff I'mation of the Collector of Customs, with having m their possession dutiable goods which consisted of £200 blankets. \ft!ued at £157. , F.vidence was called by the Crown Prosecutor to show that oil the nitrht of August 2, when , the steamer Armacch was loading' wool m Wangaimi roadstead, the quartermaster saw pevcral bales dropped over the side t.v three men. Other, "men on the lighter's dork handled the bales. John; Taylor, third officer of , the Armagh, said he searched the lighter and found the 'blankets concealed under- a tarpaulin on the deck. Alfred James, -, purser, said the blankets were the property of the I-> ncrial Government and were used by the Australian troops which the steamer conveyed to Sydney. He took ove,r charge of 7000* bla^rkets, which were stored m tHe alleyway. : Early m the proceedings the charge ajra'nst Bertie was withdrawn. The other defendants gave evidence and denied having anything to do with the blankets. , . Hia Worship • also dismissed the '•havge 'against ■.•Captain. Connor ovine to lick of positive evidence. He scir 1 the evidence disclosed that the other two men went on the Armagh, and they did not give, a reason for doing so. Jackson's evidence •■proved contradictory. It was an impudent a.t^ torn i>t to appropriate over £150 worth of blankets, . but His Worship believed the j men were not 'the only ones implicate' l j Jackson and Gibson were each flned £30 and £6 costs. V * V