ARMY TRUCK CONVERTED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 225, 24 September 1942, Page 3

ARMY TRUCK CONVERTED

PETROL THEFT BY SOLDIERS Whangarei, Sept. 22. To a charge of unlawful conversion of a motor-truck valued at £3OO, the property of the Army Department, two soldiers, Leslie Peter Wright and Henry Armstrong, pleaded guilty before M. Raymond Ferner, S.M., in W’hangarei. They also pleaded guilty to stealing 44 gallons of petrol, valued at £5 10s, the property of the department. Wright had decided to break camp to see his mother, who was ill, and he and Armstrong had agreed to take a truck and the petrol, said SeniorSergeant Henderson. They had driven to Wright’s parents’ home in Auckland and had placed the petrol in Wright's father’s car. They had continued south, with the intention of going to Wellington, but Wright had become worried and at Pokeno had decided to turn back. The Army petrol having been transferred from the car to the truck, Armstrong returned to camp, leaving the truck near by. Mr. Trimmer said Wright had joined the Army at the age of 17. His age had been discovered when he had tried to get overseas. He had been in the Army for three years and there was not a mark against his character. The magistrate said Armstrong was an offender for the second time within a comparatively short period. His act constituted a breach of probation. Armstrong was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment with hard labour, and Wright was admitted to probation for two years.