A SWINDLE EXPOSED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 218, 12 September 1907, Page 7

A SWINDLE EXPOSED.

THE CHEAP WATCH FRAUD. People who offer by circulars distributed broadcast, to supply articles at ridiculously low figures, should always be regarded with a certain amount >or suspicion, as most businesses are carried on for profit, and not,as philanthropic tiffairs. No doubt .many in this colony■' have received circulars offering to sell keyless lever chronographs at very low prices. A gentleman at Rainarama re-' ceived such a circular last year from Dorey Lester and Co., 25, Winchester Avenue, Kilburn. London, N.W., and in response tliereto, forwarded 13/6 to get a watch, as advertised. As the time went by and no watch came to hand, the gentleman next wrote to the Postal Department, and received from Wellington, under date of December 28, 1906, tbe receipt showing that the postal note had been duly cashed. He next wrote to a business firm in London, askihg about the person to whom the money order had been made out, and in due course got the following answer, which shows that occasionally men get some of their deserts. " I enclose a cutting which will, no doubt, be of much interest to you, but I hope you got your watch safely." The clipping Tead as follows:— SWINDLING JEWELLER. KILBURN MAN WHO DEFRAUDED PEOPLE IN ENGLAND AND COLONIES. Evidence of the gullibility of a section of the public was forthcoming at the , New Bailey to-day, wh<m Dorey Lester, a Kilburn cheap was sentenced.' to thifee years' penal servitude for false pretences. For thirty years the man had carried on his business by circuhirs and cata--1 logue through the post, many watches and articles being entrusted to him. Complaints had been received, both from England and the colonies. The police had 400 letters, and in the prisoner's house were found another 2000. The seven charges before the Court included one by the tenant of Ludlow Castle. - The Recorder said that the case pro- j vidsd illustration of the fact that some | folic believed anything they read. He ] said that the gentleman who instituted' the proceedings deserved the thanks of the public, and should be compensated. He characterised the prisoner as a' " dangerous man."