TRAVELLERS VICTIMISED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19100, 22 August 1936, Page 15

TRAVELLERS VICTIMISED

REMITTANCE JffAN GAOLED OFFENCES ADMITTED (Per Press Association.) i --■-- '- -' AUCKLAND, this day. An Englishman, Edward Arthur aged S 3 years, described on the -charge' sheet in the Police Court as a remittance man, to-day" admitted a series of systematic thefts from hotel bedrooms in different parts of New Zealand. He was immaculately dressed. He pleaded guilty to eight charges ot stealing .sums of money ranging from 10s to £3O in notes, and jewellery, etc., to a total value of £l7. Detective Murch said in evidence that when he was interviewed at an Auckland hotel, tho accused admitted the offences, stating that he was a native of Birmingham and had arrived in Wellington by the Tainui in April last. He went to Coromandel gold prospecting. Later he stole £6 in notes from the bedroom of Hotel Stonehufst, Auckland. He went to Sydney, and while returning in August met a' Mrs. Richardson, an American tourist, and her. daughter. At the Hotel St. George, Wellington, he noticed that Mrs. Richardson had diamond rings and wanted to get them in order to return to England. He took her suitcase away to the Midland Hotel, but on opening it he did not find the diamond rings, but other jewellery and property. Senior Detective Hall said that the accused also admitted stealing a gold watch, a cigarette case and a match container from a Swiss doctor in Sydney. He also told the police that he went on a pleasure cruise to Noumea in the Wanganella and stole from a jcabin. Mr. Wyvern "Wilson, S.M., said the case was not one for probation, the prisoner having set out to lead a dishonest life. A sentence of eight months' imprisonment was passed, being one month cumulative on each of the eight charges.