The fact that one witness had completely disappeared was put forward, together with other reasons, as an objection to the granting of bail to four Sikhs, who were charged under the Larceny Act of 1916 with stealing property to the value of $2,820.80 and with conspiring to steal at H.M. Police Court before Mr. C. H. Haines. Registrar, yesterday.
The four accused were.—Nikal Singh. Harnam Singh, Gurcharan Singh, and Udham Singh, and they were represented by Mr. R. L. Stuart, The case for the prosecution was conducted by Mr. P. Watkin Williams.
The charge against the men was that, between May 1 and June 14, they had stolen and conspired to steal, 77 boxes containing bottle stoppers, and also 30 cork making machines. The charges are denied.
Detective Sergeant 5. A. Young, Hongkew Police station, gave evidence of arresting Nika Singh, a watchman at Lane 499, East Seward Road on June 17, and taking the other three accused into custody on June 23.
Bassan Singh, a detective havildar attached to Hongkew Police station Corroborated the evidence of arrest and stated that he acted as inter-prefer, when the men were cautioned and charged. Nika Singh made a statement, which he did not sign as he said that he could neither read nor write, and the other three men stated that they had no knowledge of the case.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.