19 CHARGES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17029, 14 August 1929, Page 11

19 CHARGES

MAORI STEALS WOOL ONE YEAR'S HARD LABOR One year's imprisonment with hard labor was the sentence passed by Mr. P. 11. Harper, 8.M., in the Police Court to-day on R-awhiri Wharehinga, 24, a, Maori, who pleaded guilty to 19 charges of thefl. The accused was charged on 19 counts of stealing wool, horse hair, and skins, the properly of Sam Ngalimu, to Ihe total value of £B6 lbs, the charges extending over a. period of several months.

The accused elected to be dealt with summarily, and pleaded guilty to all charges., Iu evidence as to character, Constable Ryan, of lluatoria, slated that the accused had n. very bad character. Since .1921 bo had been convicted three times of t hell, 'and once for breaking, entering and theft, lie avoided hard work, and spent his time, loafing round the Maori pus. Senior-Sergeant Wade, who prosecuted, stated that the accused was a single man, and there could be no excuse for the thefts, which extended over a period from March 9 to July 27, and indicated that Wharehinga had been stealing systematically. On July 20 a man named Akers, of Ruatoria, telephoned tho police, and informed them that he bad become suspicious of a Maori from whvmi he had been purchasing wool. The constable told Akers to advise him when the accused returned, and the next time he brought in some wool the constable took charge of it. Wharehinga had been paid £5 10s for the wool, which was worth £lO, and altogether he had received from Akers £B6 15s for wool which was worth about £l2l at current prices. Tho total quantity of wool stolen was about 30881 b. Continuing, the senior-sergeant explained that the accused was in the habit of visiting Ngarimu's woolshed at night, taking what wool he warned and loading it on to pack horses, upon which he conveyed il a.distance of about eight miles to Akers' place. He always took the w 0..! to Akers either early in the morning or hue al night, so that no one bad ever seen him making tiie journeys, lie admitted having t.iSen the wool, but he did not have to break into the .shed. as the doors were always open. The. magistrate: Who is Akers?

The senior-sergeant : lie is a wool buyer. He knew that this Maori had no la .id and no sheep, and. his suspicions should: have been aroused much sooner, since he had received 19 lots from him. The. Maori was ipiite candid about the matter, and said the whole of the woo! ho had stolen he had sold to Akers, and that no one else was implicated. The senior-sergeant, added that the aexused had to appear rt the next sitting of the Supreme Court on a further charge of breaking, entering, and theft, The magistrate said the accused bad been systematically stealing the wool since March, and there was nothing to be said in his favor. lie ',.ad a very harf record, and bad already spent a good deal of time in gaol, but that did not seem to have bad any effect upon hini (In the first charge he would be sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment with hard labor, and on the other 18 charges he would be convicted and discharged.