IMPORTATION OF ARMS.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1400, 6 September 1923, Page 5

IMPORTATION OF ARMS.

A MAGISTRATE'S WARNING. (By Telegraph. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. If the practice of unlawfully importing arms in the country does not cease, a term of imprisonment will be imposed on .offenders apprehended. This warning was issued in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday by Mr E. Page, S.M., when inflicting a fine of £4O, with the alternative of two months’ imprisonment, on a ship’s steward named Thomas Eugene Finnerty, who admitted having unlawfully imported a five-chambered revolver together with eleven pounds of ammunition. Sub-Inspector Lander said that the accused was a steward on the Moeraki, which arrived from Melbourne on Sunday, and when he paraded for his pay he was asked if he had in his possession any restricted goods. He denied that he had any, but a search of his luggage revealed a revolver, and later, eleven rounds of ammunition were found concealed in the folds of a shirt. “This class of offence,” declared the Sub-Inspector, “is looked upon as a very serious matter. If crews on overseas vessels arriving here are going to indulge in this kind of traffic it will largely nullify the effects of our Arms Act. In the present case the accused has a record which discloses some serious offences.” Mr J. Scott (who appeared for the accused) said that the Court could hardly be guided by the man’s list, since it was 12 years old, and there bad been no lapses since. Finnerty had carried the weapon in countries where the practice was as usual as it was unusual here. His Worship imposed a fine of £4O, in default two months’ imprisonment. “It is just as well to say,” he added, “that if these offences do not stop a term .of imprisonment will have to be imposed.” An application for time to pay the fine was refused.