Sentence Reduced

Tonga's "Tin Can Mailman" and "Theft" of a Puppy

From Our Own Correspondent

Nukualofa, Oct. 1.

THE case of Mr. C. S. Ramsay, well known throughout the Pacific as the “Tin Can Mailman”, who was sentenced last year by Judge Stuart (now in British Guiana) to six months’ imprisonment for the “theft of a young pup”, has at last been finalised.

Mr. Ramsay appealed to the Privv Council Court against the magistrate’s decision and that body, while upholding the lower court’s judgment, reduced the sentence to one month. Mr. Ramsay was placed on good behaviour probation for the period.

So ends a case that attracted much attention and caused quite a stir in Nukualofa.

Evidence at the Police Court, when Ramsay was first charged with the offence, disclosed that a small puppy, property of a Tongan lad, had wandered away from its owner; that Ramsay had fed and taken care of it for three weeks; and that he had had sharp words with the native when the latter eventually found and claimed the animal.

A number of people in Nukualofa were of opinion that the judge did not deal justly with the matter in a calm and balanced manner.

Pate decided the future of the puppy over which the trouble arose—shortly after the first hearing it was run over by a motor-lorry and killed.