GOODS OBTAINED BY FRAUD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 260, 2 November 1928, Page 16

GOODS OBTAINED BY FRAUD.

LEGAL RIGHTS OF BUYER.

MAGISTRATE'S DECISION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCTI, Thursday. Whether goods fraudulently obtained and sold should remain the property of the person to whom they were sold or should be returned to the original owners was a question decided by Mr. Mosley, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court to-day. The case was a sequel to the recent conviction in the Supreme Court of James Bullars McKenzie, who was sentenced to imprisonment on several charges of obtaining goods by fraud. The original owners applied to the Court to have those goods returned by Edward Wright, to whom they were sold by McKenzie'e partner, who is missing. Evidence was given as to the circumstances under which the goods were sold. The goods comprised 13 cases of motor spirit, 191 sheets of galvanised iron, five pneumatic tyres, and one solid tyre. The magistrate said the case was different from one of theft, for a thief had no title to the goods he sold. When a man obtained goods by false pretences he acquired some measure of title. The crux of the matter was whether Wright acted genuinely and gave value. °To succeed plaintiffs would require to prove that Wright knew the true position and paid a ridiculous price. The magistrate ordered the goods to be returned to Wright.