Don't mess with the P & T Dept.

The following excerpt comes from the Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1913, F-1 p. 8, for the year ended 30 June 1913.

OFFENCES

At Auckland a young man, charged with misappropriating ₤1 from a registered letter delivered to him in error, was admitted to probation for two years upon refund of the sum stolen and payment of costs amounting to ₤5 5s.

A telegraph message-boy was convicted of the theft of ₤5 from a registered letter. Under Section 14 (1) of the Civil Service Act, he ceased to be an officer of the Department.

A telegraph message-boy at Ashburton was dismissed from the service for failing to deliver a registered letter entrusted to him.

On a charge of signing a fictitious name to a telegram at Ashburton, a man was fined ₤5 and costs.

On a charge of conspiring to defraud by means of telegrams,  two persons, one of whom was an officer of the Department, were convicted at Blenheim and were each fined ₤20, together with costs of ₤10 and ₤20 respectively; in default, to be imprisoned for a period not exceeding three months. The officer was dismissed.

A person convicted at Taumarunui of sending telegrams in breach of the Licensing Act and in a fictitious name was sentenced to one month's imprisonment.

A man was convicted and sentenced at Wellington to imprisonment for eighteen months with hard labour on the charge of opening telegrams addressed to another person which he obtained by fraud.

An office-cleaner at Wanganui was sentenced on the 11th July, 1912, to nine month's imprisonment for the theft of postal packets.

For stealing ₤42 fromm a postal packet at Omakau, a railway employee was brought before the court and admitted to probation for twelve months. A fellow railway employee was also admitted to a similar term of probation for receiving a portion of the stolen amount.

Three registered letters containing money were stolen at Runciman. The offender, who was arrested in Sydney, was sentenced to reformative treatment for two years.

At Otaki a man was convicted and fined ₤1 and costs for using a defaced stamp as postage on a letter.