CARGO-BROACHING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2126, 7 December 1920, Page 2

CARGO-BROACHING.

SEAMEN SENT TO gAOL. Press Association. AUCKLAND, December 8. Broaching of cargo on the steamer Opawa, when the ship was on the high seas, was admitted by five members of: the crew, who were brought before Mr j J. W. Poynton, S.M., to-day. Accused : were Lionel A. Tomsett (21), William Meade (28), William C. Codlin (23), John Driver (25) and Alfred Taylor (30), who were charged with embezzlement' of three and a-half rolls of cotton, four rolls of flannelette, two boxes of soap, 48 tins of tobacco and 95 packets of cigarettes, valued at £SO. Chief-Detective MeMahon stated that the theft had been discovered by the ship's officers, and they made inquiries among the crew. Accused had owned up, with the result that they were turned over to the police on arrival at port. Mr Singer made a plea for the men that they should be dealt with by fine. Accused had not allowed suspicion to fall on others. They had been tempted by an open hatch, but they had come forward and declared themselves when the theft was discovered.. If they were imprisoned the ship would be inconvenienced and the men would eventually be left stranded in New Zealand and the country saddled with an addition to its population that was not desirable. The Chief-Detective remarked that the hatch from which the goods were taken had not been left open, but it had not been battened down. His Worship remarked that there were

means" of deporting undesirables, and people who stole cargo could not expect ■to get off on that plea. They would be sentenced to three months' imprisonment, with a provision that they should be put on their ship when it sailed eventually from New Zealand.