Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 25 March 1932
Gas Meter Theft
Denaby Miner’s Poverty Plea
Pleading that he was working on short time and that he had a wife and two small children to keep, John A. Goulding (23), a Denaby miner, was at Doncaster on Saturday placed under the supervision of the Probation Officer for 12 months and ordered to pay 40s. costs for stealing 13s. from a gas meter at Conisborough.
Evidence showed that the owners of the meter, the Denaby and Cadeby Colliery Co., had found money missing from the meter between December 3rd of last year and March 8th.
When first charged with the offence Goulding denied any knowledge of it. He later stated that he had broken open the meter “for his baby,” and because they had no snap in the house.
Defendant was fined for a similar offence last June.