ENCUMBERED CAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 156, 3 July 1936, Page 8

ENCUMBERED CAR.

SOLD BY SALESMAN. PRISON FOR SIX WEEKS. "You have been dealt with leniently in the past for theft and I suppose you think you can jro on being -treated that way," said Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., to a salesman, Hillary Ferris Browne, aged 33. who appeared in the Police Court this morning on a charge of false pretences. Browne's offence was that he obtained £25 from Cyril Leslie Urquhart at Auckland on June 20 by falsely representing that a motor car which had been previously purchased from a Hamilton firm for £0"> was quite unencumbered.

Senior Detective Hall said Browne purchased a car on hire-payment in Hamilton by paying a deposit of £5. He drove the car to Auckland and offered it for sale, telling the buyer that a firm of Dunedin solicitors had purchased it for him. He produced a receipt purporting to be for £95, but in reality this was a receipt for £5, accused altering the receipt to make it appear that it was one for £05. Browne was given a cheque for £25 in payment fol- the car, but later the buyer discovered .that it was an encumbered vehicle. Browne was located when trying to cash the cheque for £25. "This man is married and is separated from his wife," said Mr. Hall. "He lias a plausible way and has some previous convictions."

It was stated by Mr. T. Henry, who appeared for Browne, that accused was a salesman who had been working in country districts but had been unable to earn sufficient to pay his expenses. A warrant for maintenance had been issued against him aiid this and other pressure had prompted him to 'commit the offence. Counsel asked that under the circumstances Browne might be leniently dealt with.

A sentence of six weeks' imprisonment was imposed bv the magistrate.