IT MAY BE FOR YEARS.

AN HABITUAL CRIMINAL. REMITTANCE MAN'S CAREER. The very bad criminal Tecord achieved by William John Chadwick. in the' space of about sis years was probably ended by his-last attempt at forgery in Auckland, on Bth October last. He came up for sentence before his Honor Mr. Justice Cooper at the Supreme Court this morning. Since Blay, 1908, he has been convicted ten times of theft and forgery in various parts of New Zealand from Dunedin to Auckland. In February last he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for theft at Hamilton, and that sentence expired only on 31st July. On the Bth October he attempted to pass a cheque for £8 15/6, forged as drawn by Green and Colebrook, of Te Kuiti, upon an Auckland jeweller. He told the Court this morning that all his troubles had come upon him through drink. He was, he said, the worse for drink when he had attempted to pass this last cheque. His wife was in trouble, and he needed money urgently. He was a remittance man, and received money regul*rly from Home, and he pleaded with the Court to give him a chance to overcome his drinking habits by sending him to "the island."

His Honor intimated that he proposed to give prisoner a short sentence, and to declare him an habitual criminal. The Prisons Board would then take his case into consideration, and would decide when he had gained sufficient strength of mind to be discharged. He would be sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour, and declared to be an habitual criminal.