WHAT 'COLONEL' HALLETT DID WITH MISS 'SELWYN'S MONEY.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 267, 12 November 1887, Page 3

WHAT 'COLONEL' HALLETT DID WITH MISS 'SELWYN'S MONEY.

FU R J T HE R t> IS CR E DIT AB L E

REVELATIONS.

(FROM OOR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, October 5. In the face 'of the following authoritative statements, apparently emanating from MiSs'Selwyh'iferself, and published in ttie "P.M.G." 'of TVfdnday week (since whin tlifey Have beSh fn 'no : way * sa'tisf actbrily refuted), I fear there can Ke ho doubt that Colonel, HugKes-Hallett added designs on her money to his othei sins against his wife's step-daughter. Mr Stead Iβ very clear and specific in his assertions this time. Evidently he has no fear of ah action for libel. He says :— _ If will be remembered that when we first called attention to this disgraceful afFairAve -pointed out the double nature of the scandal, ft was first of all a parhcularly shameful case of seduction ; andih the'eebotfd place it was aggravated, by discreditable money SSctilns. The former, .charge has already been byus and in all essential particulars admitted by Colbn'el Hughes-Hallett. With to the latter statement, we areiiow_ita aposition to give fuller particulars, for which

we venture to bespeak the closest attention. Our statement under this head was, it will be remembered, that, not content with ruining the young lady, he had "obtained gossession of £5,000 of her money." To this olonel Hughes-Hallett's reply was: — " Miss Selwyn some, time ao-e asked me to try to get her better interest lor the sum of £5,000 than she was getting at that "time. She covenanted, by a deed now in my possession, to lend the money for five years ; but some weeks ago her solicitors suddenly called this money in, and in less than twenty-four hours the principal, with interest up to date; was handed to my "solicitors for transferer!ce to hers." .

The latter part of this statement requires correction. It is untrue that Miss Selwyn's solicitor .requested the repayment of the money. The money—which had been lent, as will presently be seen, for five years, with an express provision tha,t it should not be called in " until the termination of the said five years "--was repaid by Colonel Hughes-Hallett, before any call on the young lady's part, but after it was known that the matter had been placed in the hands of an eminent criminal lawyer. These facts hardly bear«'ou6 Colonel Hughes-Hallett's contention that the repayment "of the money may be accepted as a satisfactory explanation of the whole matter.

» An investigation of what had happened to the £5,000 meanwhile does not tend to I'emove its unpleasant aspect from the transaction. Now, on tlurl7th of May, 1887, the fortune of Miss Setyyn amounted to the siim of £41,000, the greatest, part of which was in consols. Colonel HughesHallett asked the young lady to lend him £5,000, that it might be placed "on mortgage on houses in the City of London." On the 17th.of May, 1887, Miss Selwynknew so little about the mode of realising consols that Colonel Hughes - Hallett in his ovfrn handwriting drafted a letter in pencil, for her to copy and sign and send to her bankers, requesting them to sell but £5?000 of her consols. The following is. the draft, which is in Colonel Hughes-Hallett's handwriting :—

(In pencil, in Coloriel Hughes-Hallett's handwriting.) "Gentlemen,—l shall feel obliged by your selling but £5,000 (five thousand pounds) of my consols, and placing the same when realised to my credit. Also by your kindly notifying to me when you have done so.—l am, yours faithfully, ." On this same 17th of May, 1887, Colonel Hughes-Hallett accompanied Miss Selwyn to'her bankers, and obtained possession of five notes of £1,000 each, the numbers of which have since been obtained, being— 80.660 I 80.661 . 80.662 }■ April 1, 1887. 80.663 i 80.664 J A deduction of this £5,000 was made by Colonel Hughes-Halletb from' the list of Miss Selwyn's securities, which he drew up. We give below a copy of the document to which is appended, in pencil, the calculation of Colonel Hughes-Hallett. The following are the terms of this document :— Miss Selwyn'a Fortune.— Cash Valde> September 15,1886. £27,787 Consols £27,935 £3,266 Reduced .. '.. ~ _ .. 3.242 £2,500 £2 10s per cent. 2,225 £5,700 4 per cent, preference .. „ 6,426 £825 ordinary 1,006 Cash in hand „ - ~ „ .. 207 £41,092 On mortgage on houses in City of London 5,000 (In Colonel Hughcs-llallott's writing) £36,092 The words—" On mortgage on houses in the Cityof London—£s,ooo" are inthehandwribing of Miss Selwyn, and indicate the said loan of £5,000 to Colonel Hughes-Hal-lett to be invested in " mortgages on houses in the City of L'oridon." The pencil figures —£36,092—underneath the words "mortgages on houses in the City of London, £5,000 " are in the handwriting of Coloriel Huefhes-Hallett. We regret to say that from inquiries since made it appears that the sum of £5,000 obtained from Miss Selwyn by Colonel HughesIlallett was not invested in " Mortgages on house property in the City oj London." As the numbers of the five notes have been obtained, a portion of these notes have been traced, and appear to have been paid by Colonel Hughes-Hallett to moneylenders from whom moneys had been previously obtained by him at trie usual usurious rate of interest. It was Mr Engcl, of Great Marlborough - street, to whom Colonel Hughes-Hallett paid one of the five £1,000 notes.

Although 'this young; lady's money was safely invested in cbnspls, Colonel Hughesllallett gave no security whatever, iioi , apparently any receipt (for the cheque was nob made payable to liis order), to the young lady for the loan. Sheparted loilh £5,000 for which he (jave her ndthiny. But he took from her a document of which the following is a copy :—

I, Beatrice Eugenic Selwyn, Aldowrie> Inverness, N. 8., do hereby agree to lend to Francis Hughes-Hallett, of 188, Cromwell Road, S.W., the sum of five thousand pounds for the term of five years from this date, with interest at the rate of 4 J. per cent, per annum, the said interest to be paid every six months—namely, £112 10a on the 17th of May and on the ,17th'of November in eaph year, until the principal is paid off. And I further agree not to call in the said loan, or any part of it, until the termination of the said five years, and bind myself to accept the repayment of the entire principal of £5,000 before the termination of the said five years, provided all interest due up to the date of the payment of the said principal shall have been paid. Given under my hand and seal, the 17th of May, 1887. . Beatrice Eugenic Selwv.n;. Witnesses: ErnestG. Terry, Percy House, Great Port-land-street. Henry Smith, 7, Sterwick Road, West Kensington. It is therefore conclusively demonstrated that the £5,000 so obtained by Colonel Hughes-Hallett from this young girl was obtained for five years - iviihout any security whatever, and at a time when Colonel Hughes-Hallett required it for the purpose of paying off money borrowed at usurious interest. Who, we should like to ask, would have advanced him a sum of £5,000 without security, except : he had obtained it from the poor girl whom lie had known from a child and whdiii he had ruined ? The transaction does riot end here, for Colonel Hughes-Hallett, knowing that this young lady possessed upwards of £41,000, arranged that they should make mutual wills in one another's favovr. The financial position of Colonel Hughes-Hallett, may be jJretty well judged by. tlie , history of the £5,000, and the, debts due to the money - lenders. fie knew that she .was possessed of upwards of £41,000, of which he also knew she had the absolute control and disposal. On the 30th July, 1887, Colonel Hughes-Hallett wrote a letter to this young lady with reference to the will lie had made in her favour, of which tne following is a copy:— " While I think of it, I : meant,to liave given you the information before, but forgot to do so—l waiit to tell .you about my policies of life insurance. I have left you, absolutely, all my real and personal estate. Amongst chis estate are certain policies of insurance on my life. They are necessarily embodied and included in the words { personal estate ;' but the .-will does , not state where these policies. I give you the list overleaf /which ,be surea'nd take great care of, So thafc on my:iieafch rriy solicitor,-Mi", .James, Williams, of:,■ Messrs. Williams and James, Norfolk House, Norfolk • street.

Strand, May know where to get them paid. F. C. 11. H. "July 30th, 1887," Amounts. & Reliance Life Office (1, Waterloo Place, PajlMalJ) „ .. 2,600 Guardian Life Office (Fleet - street, Strand, near Child's) 2,000 Norwich Union Office (Fleet-street, Strand) .. _ 500 Tdtal £5,100 The policies to which he calls such special attention may be worth, at the present time, at their surrender value, some £200 or £300. As he has two children of his own by Lady Selwyn, the stepmother of the girl he has ruined, it is somewhat singular that if the property, however small, were to pass to Miss Selwyn, Colonel Hughes-Hallett's two children by his first ■ marriage with Lady Selwyn were by that will disinherited. We may, in conclusion, further point out that by the will which he had arranged with Miss Selwyn that she should make in his favour she bequeathed him the w hole of her fortune, as against her own relations and as against her own child by him, as yet unborn.

Such are the facts with regard to the financial part of this "parliamentary scandal." Colonel Hughes-Hallett, in a later statement than the one referred to above, says "it must be understood that if I have done anything wrong in regard to the sum of £5,000 so often mentioned, I am responsible to the criminal law of England." With the criminal law we here have nothing to do. But public men are responsible as such to other courts than "the criminal law." And we have some confidence that the above-mentioned transactions with the money of the young lady he had ruined will not dispose public opinion in Colonel Hughes-Hallett's favour. Nor will they add to the honourable and gallant member's fitness for a place in the House of Commons, which as in morals it should not be conspicuously worse than the world at large, so in pecuniary matters should be above suspicion.