In early July, John Bidois, 20, found the ornately-carved donation box recently stolen from the altar of the Radha Giridhari Temple at Riverhead. It was dumped in a rubbish bin in Kumeu near where he works, and he reported it to police.

Within 24 hours, the rimu box valued at around $1000, was safely back in the hands of head priest Naradarsi das and he said that it was fortunate that the box had been emptied just before it was taken and the thieves would have only got away with a few dollars.

Mr Bidois commented that he would have liked to have returned the box with the money still in it, and the Nor-West News when reporting the incident said "Honesty is still alive and well'.