AUDACIOUS HOAX.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 243, 14 October 1931, Page 8

AUDACIOUS HOAX.

MAN, VISITS TWENTY SCHOOLS

'INSPECTOR' FROM AUSTRALIA

ARREST MADE BY. POLICE. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The circumstances have just been revealed of an audacious hoax perpetrated by a man who had been inspecting schools, including a convent at Masterton, where he conducted a proficiency examination. Armed with a letter purporting to have been written by a high education official, the man is alleged to have visited about 20 schools in the Wairarapa district between September 7 and October 3. It is understood that' he claimed to be a, school inspector from Queensland on holiday in New Zealand. When he left the .district, however, the Queensland authorities were communicated with, and the hoax was discovered. It is stated that, accompanied "by a young woman, whom he described as his wife, the man arrived at Mastertoii by train on September 7 and took up" residence in a private home in Queen Street: Next day he engaged a taxi driver to convey him on a tour of the district schools. At one school it was found that two inspectors were there already. I The new arrival merely remarked that there-appeared to.be something wrong with tho administration, as inspectors were overlapping in their duties. The man then returned to Masterton,' and on the'following day, it is stated,. he and the woman were. driven in a taxi to Wellington, a visit being paid to a. school •en route. While in Wellington the man visited the Education Board's offices and the Victoria Uni- ; versify College, and was entertained at afternoon tea by an officer of the Department. On the journey back to Masterton the man is alleged to have told the taxi driver that he was to be appointed chief inspector in February. How completely suspicion was disarmed is indicated by the fact that on his visits' to several schools the man was accompanied, by two inspectors. The crowning exploit of the man's career as an inspector, it is alleged, was to conduct a proficiency examination at the convent at Masterton. The examination is said to have been easy and the results to have been more than satisfactory to both teachers and scholars—all but one pupil passing. A whole holiday was granted at his request. -..""' - On the day following this examination the man and woman were driven to Grey town: From there the headmaster of the local district high school took them on in his car to Wellington. This was the last the district saw of them. The police have made, an arrest in connection with the affair.