PILLAGING OF CARGO.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2224, 23 June 1908, Page 3

PILLAGING OF CARGO.

THREE MEN ARRESTED. A GROWING EVIL. [Press Association.] WELLINGTON, June 22. Three firemen. C. Johns, R. Johnson, and A. Addison, pleaded guilty before Mr. Riddell, S.M., this afternoon to stealing a. quantity of beer, value. 5». the property of the Union /Steamship Company of New Zealand. •Mr. Wilford, on behalf of the Union Company, stated that the three men were discovered to-day in the hold of tho s.s. Waikare, to which vessel they belonged, by tho quarter-master. The men were filling a kettle 'with beer front a cask. They were asked to desist, hut returned to the beer again three times. The quarter-master remonstrated with them, and the last time one of tlie men lilt him a blow. Other men came to the rescue, but even after that the accused wont back to tho cask and -filled the kettle once more. “It is a serious thing,” continued Mr 1 . Wilford, “a very serious thing, indued, this pillaging of cargo. The Union Company alone complains of' losses amounting to £lO9 3s 3d. From the month- of May tlie articles stolen include whisky, Irish moss, emulsion. skirts, jujubes, polish, shirts, wine, beer, and a multitude of other things. Tho Harbor Board has lost £4O through pillaging and petty thefts in one month. The articles are mostly of small value and in small amounts. The evil is growing, and is becoming very serious indeed. These men (indiciting the prisoners) apparently thought there was nothing ...particularly wrong in stealing tuc beer, for they returned to it thrice. The Union Company has asked me to request the Magistrate- to help in checking the alarming growth of these petty thefts. Scircelv a day passes without a complaint comes from some quarter on other, most!'- from owners of cargoes. I ask Your Worship to take this into account in dealing with these men.”

The prisoners were remanded to Wednesday morning for sentence.