TRIED TO GET RICH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 538, 15 December 1928, Page 1

TRIED TO GET RICH

YOUNG RAILWAYMAN STEALS WIRE PLAN THAT MISCARRIED (From Our Oicn Correspondent) PUKEKOHE, To-day. The story of how a young railway employee could not resist temptation was related in the Police Court this morning, before Messrs. J. T. Stembridge and F. Perkins, J.P.’s. The accused, Bernard William Gill, aged 27, was charged with stealing scwt of copper wire, valued at £lB, the property of the Railway Department. He pleaded guilty. The police stated that Gill, who was engaged on the automatic signalling extensions, collected the wire and secreted it in some blackberry bushes near the' station. Having interviewed a second-hand’dealer at Auckland, and arranged A sale, accused requested a cai'rier 16 convey'the wire to the dealer. Gill indicated to the carrier the locality of the “plfLnt.” His suspicions, being aroused, the carrier reported the occurrence to the police. The bench held that the theft was a premeditated one, but as accused was a young man; • and- had forfeited his position owing to his lapse, they would not imprison him. Gill was fined £5, at the rate Of £1 monthly, and also placed on probation for 12 months.