MAN’S FOOLISH THEFT

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXI, Issue 8836, 23 October 1942, Page 2

MAN’S FOOLISH THEFT

IRON LEFT BY THE WAYSIDE PASSED BY SEVERAL TIMES Theft of 30 sheets of iron valued at 30s, the property of -Matthew Richard Wynn, was admitted by Cyril Douglas Murphy, aged 29, engineer, when he appeared before Mr W. H. Freeman, S.M., at the monthly sitting of the Waihi Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Sergeant A. Bisset said the iron had been loaded on one of the Martha Company’s rakes and had- been left at the Victoria Street crossing to be picked up, but the.owner did not»call for it on the day it had been left there; and on Sunday, August 9, defendant took the iron home. When interviewed by the police he was quite frank about the matter* and nothing was previously known against him.

Mr 11. L. Boughton, who appeared for defendant, said Murphy had called at the gasworks on two or three occasions to get some coke and had seen the iron lying there unclaimed, 7

each day. For some unexplained reason he had taken it home. The iron was not the usual sheets of corrugated iron, but material that was sold from the Waikino battery when no longer needed there. Defendant was a married man, and held a respected place in the community.

A fine of £2 19s and costs was imposed.