ARMY BLANKETS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12717, 12 August 1919, Page 6

ARMY BLANKETS.

A WANGANUI EPISODE. [Peh Pkess Association.] WANGANUI, August 11. At the Magistrate’s Court to-day, Captain John Couuor, master of the lighter Morning' Light, ami David Bertie, Joseph Gibson and John Marshall, waterside workers, wore charged, on the information of the Collector of Customs, with having in their possession ! dutiable goods, which consisted of two hundred blankets, valued at £167. Evidence was called by the Crown Prosecutor to show that, on the night of August 2, when the steamer Armagh was loading wool in the Wanganui roadstead, the quartermaster saw several bales dropped over the side by three men- Other men on the lighter’s deck handled the balesJohn Taylor, third officer of the Armagh, said ho searched the lighter and found the blankets concealed on the deck under a tarpaulin. Alfred James, the purser, said that the blankets were the property of the Imperial Government, and were used ! by Australian troops which the steamer conveyed to Sydney. He took over the charge of 7000 blankets, which were stored in an alleyway. Early in the proceedings the charge against Bertie was dismissed. The other defendants gave evidence, and denied having anything to do with the blankets. His Worship also dismissed the charge against Captain Cojjjior. owing to the lack of positive evidence. fie said the evidence disclosed that the other two men went on the Armagh, and they did not give a satisfactory reason for doing so. It wa s an impudent attempt to appropriate over £l5O worth of blankets, but his Worship believed the men wer© not the only ones implicated. Marshall and Gibson were each fined £3O and £6 costs.