PAWNED CORNET.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 197, 20 August 1931, Page 5

PAWNED CORNET.

Remarkable Story Told in Court. LABOURER’S FRAUDS. (Special to the “ Star.”) WELLINGTON, August 20. The tale of a man who joined a city band so that he could get money by pawning a cornet was told before Mr E. Page, S.M. Arrested at- Masterton on a charge of obtaining four gallons of petrol by falsely representing that he was an employee of the Basin Reserve Petrol Station, George Henry Ellis, a labourer, aged 24, pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining petrol by false pretences and three charges of theft. Sub-Inspector Ward said that the accused had been driving a motor vehicle round some of the country districts near Wellington, and on two occasions at Upper Hutt he obtained petrol to the value of £2 2s 2d by falsely representing that he had a motor garage in Kent Terrace. On the third occasion, at Masterton, he falsely represented that he was employed at a Wellington petrol station. On July 7, he joined the Wellington Artillery Band, and was allowed to take home a cornet with which to practice. Three days later he gave the cornet to a friend and asked him to pawn it for him. The cornet, which was valued at £23, was pawned for £2. The accused called at a motor-cycle dealer’s and said he would purchase a machine for £35. He said he had a friend at Masterton who was bringing the money to Wellington for him. He waited about the shop for two days, but the money did not arrive, and the dealer gave him the machine to ride to Masterton to get it. On August 9 the accused had still not paid for the machine, but he arranged to sell it for £25. He sold it the next day for that amount, and when he was arrested he had about £lO still in his possession. Counsel for the accused said that in 1925 Ellis had been run over by a motor-car, and had suffered severe head injuries, which had affected his mentality. On the charge of stealing the motorcycle the accused was ordered to be detained for reformative treatment for a period not exceeding three years. On each of the other charges he was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence within three years if called upon.