STOLE GUITAR AND BAGPIPES

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1933, Page 9

STOLE GUITAR AND BAGPIPES

MAN ADMITS OFFENCES. ADJOURNMENT UNTIL TO-DAY. " Saying that if the Pipe , Band was still willing to help the man he did not wish to put anything in his way that, might prevent him accepting the assistance, Mr, W. H. Woodward, S.M., at New’ Plymouth on Saturday further adjourned until this morning charges of theft against Elijah Porte Yardley. In the meantime the band was to decide whether it was prepared to do anything further for the man. With aliases of Elijah John Porte and John Lindsay, Yardley was charged with the theft at Auckland on January 7 of a steel guitar worth £3, belonging to William James Boyd, and on January 13 a set of bagpipes worth £5O, belonging to William McComb. He admitted both offences. The circumstances were explained by Senior-Sergeant. Turner. He said that on January 12 Yardley borrowed the bagpipes from McComb on the understanding that they were to be returned in two days. They were not returned, and when the owner spoke to Yardley about (hem he gave the name and address of a man at Grey Lynn, but inquiry disclosed that the man did not know Yardley and knew nothing about the pipes. On January 17 they were found in a pawnshop, where Yardley, under the name of Lindsay, had deposited them for an advance of £2. He told the pawnbroker they were his own pipes, and secured a further advance of £l. The owner subsequently redeemed them on payment of the £3. Yardley came to New Plymouth and was assisted into business by the Pipe Band, which guaranteed him £2O, which he was repaying by way of an allowance at the rate of 15s. per week as a coaching fee for services to the band. The circumstances in connection with the guitar were somewhat similar. He borrowed it and sold it to a second-hand dealer. It could not be found at Auckland until Yardley was arrested at New Plymouth and he informed the police of what he had done with it; the instrument was recovered. He had sold it for Bs.

Senior-Sergeant Turner said Yardley had one previous conviction for a similar offence relating to a set of bagpipes in January, 1929. On that occasion he was convicted and discharged. It seemed to be a habit of his to borrow instruments and then to pawn them. Questioned by the magistrate, Yardleysaid he used the name of Lindsay when he pawned the pipes. He was sorry for what he had done, he said, and if given a chance he -would give no more trouble. At Auckland he had been working in the Union Company’s repair shops, but work was very casual and he had not much of a chance until he came to New Plymouth, where the band had assisted him. He still had his contract with the band. Senior-Sergeant Turner said there was -me doubt whethei- the band was still prepared to stand behind the man, and the matter was being gone into by some of the officers of the ' -