WOULD NOT BUY FOOD

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 77, 10 March 1931, Page 6

WOULD NOT BUY FOOD

MAN WITH £B4O IN CASH COLLAPSE THROUGH STARVATION GISBORNE, March 9. An unusual case came before Justices this afternoon when a middle-aged man named Robert Crosley, with i"840 in his-possession, was convicted and discharged for having insufficient lawful means of support. Some three months ago Crosjey was before the Court in (iisborne on a similar charge and surprise was occasioned when it was found that he had. £l2 10s in Australian notes in possession. Even more surprise was expressed to-day on Crosley's ivnppeaiance due to his having been picked up on the road near Tolaga Bay in almost a state of collapse through starvation. He had been removed to Tolago Bay Hospital where a nurse found he had 840 pound notes pinned in his coat lining. Senior-Sergeant Wade explained that the man had been brought before the Court for his own safety and. it had been arranged for Crosley to be taken to a mental home. Crosley replied that lie would sr.Oi'iev go back to gaol as the food there suited him. The gaoler, Mr Richardson, said that Crosley would sooner go back to gaol for ten years if he were permitted. It didn't cost him anything there and all he did was to sleep in his bunk or lie in the sunCrosley was convicted and discharged on condition that he entered a mental home. Defendant's main objection was that he would have to pay something for his board.