SWIFT JUSTICE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21574, 9 February 1940, Page 3

SWIFT JUSTICE

A WELLINGTON INSTANCE By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, February 7. Less than an hour from the time the offence was committed two men were arrested and charged in the Magistrate’s Court and each was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment. The accused were William Adolphus Cunningham, wool classer. aged 52. and Hector Kenneth Claude Hodges, a labourer, aged 38. They pleaded guilty before Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., to the theft of a bottle of beer and a bottle of sherry, of a total value of 5/10, the property of E. T. Taylor and Company, Ltd. Sergeant P. Munro told the Court that the accused were seen removing the liquor from the back of a motorlorry in Victoria Street. They subsequently went to a shop doorway in Hunter Street, and placed the bottles in their pockets, but were arrested later in Post Office Square. The Magistrate said that Cunningham was making his forty-fifth appearance in Court. Most of his previous charges had involved theft. The other accused had also been before the Court before. Thefts from vehicles were serious, and must be followed by imprisonment. The offence was committed at approximately 10.55 a.m. and 45 minutes later the accused appeared in Court. The case was brought immediately because the principal witness was leaving Wellington in the afternoon.