LIVED BEYOND HIS MEANS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21836, 13 December 1940, Page 6

LIVED BEYOND HIS MEANS

POSTAL OFFICIAL SENTENCED FOR THEFT By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND, December 12. He had been in Te Awamutu for 20 years, was well respected and had a wonderful reputation for efficiency, said Mr Preston, appealing for probation for Stephen Granville Riddell, aged 40, a postal official at Te Awamutu, who came up for sentence before Mr Justice Fair in the Supreme Court for theft as a servant of Government moneys approximating £5OO. Counsel said Riddell had worked his way up from messenger to supervisor in the Te Awamutu office. His domestic life had been unhappy and from a net salary of £5/11/- a week he had to meet £2/15/- a week in maintenance. He was not addicted to gambling. His Honour: No. But it is perfectly clear that on that salary he could not afford to own and run motor cars and he persisted in doing so. His Honour said it was Impossible to grant probation. Instead of living within his salary he had chosen to live comfortably by a series of thefts. Giving full weight to all counsel had said, the least sentence that could be Imposed was nine months’ imprisonment.