SERIOUS CARGO PILLAGING

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1929, Page 9

SERIOUS CARGO PILLAGING

THREE SEAMEN GO TO PRISON. By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. A greaser on the steamer Hororata, James Sweetingham, was charged today with having received from George William Knight one pair of ladies’ shoes, the property of the New Zealand Shipping Company. He pleaded guilty. Knight was charged with stealing shoes and pleaded not guilty. Frank Edwin Teller, second officer of the Hororata. said that on the arrival of the ship at Lyttelton on Wednesday he inspected the hatches and discovered extensive pillaging. Parts of the stolen goods were afterwards discovered stowed away in various parts of the ship and the wharf.

Sweetingham gave evidence that he had ben asked by a member of the crew of the Katoa to get a pair of shoes. He went back to the Hororata and asked Knight for a pair. When taking them across- to the Katoa he was arrested.

Sergeant Dunlop said the pillaging was serious and would probably run to hundreds of pounds. Whole bolts of cloth had been taken. At least one bolt was thrown overboard. The accused were both sentenced to one month’s imprisonment. Robert William Earl, also a member of the crew of the Hororata, pleaded guilty to receiving a quantity of sugar and cheese valued at Bs, the property of the Union Steamship Co. He was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment.