FALSE PRETENCES ALLEGED

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21939, 13 November 1936, Page 15

FALSE PRETENCES ALLEGED

* THREE MEN FACE FIVE CHARGES CONDUCT OF ART UNION QUESTIONED (PBXBS iSBOCIATIOK TXUtOHU*.) WELLINGTON. November 12. False pretences in the conduct of a competition for which a motor-car was offered as a prize were alleged in the Magistrate’s Court against Harold Fairchild Pobar, an agent, Bertram Egley. a company secretary,* and Hannatn Noel Blake Marshall, a company director. Five charges were made against them jointly. Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., is hearing the charges. , . The principal charge was that, between July 16, 1935, and March 31, 1936, the defendants conspired with each other in Wellington and other places to defraud such persons as should be induced to purchase tickets in a test of skill competition by falsely representing that a car was available as a prize without disclosing that the car was subject to an instrument by way of security securing the principal, a sum of £450, and by falsely representing that the car was new and being kept sealed. There were four other charges, that the defendants by the same false pretences obtained from John Deith Is, from John Johnston Henderson 6d on two occasions, and from Henry Gastein sums totalling £l. “Never Beady for Audit” Mary Rebecca O’Brien, employed from July to December, 1935, by Pobar and Blake, and taking instructions from Pobar and Egley, gave evidence of the Arm’s business. In cross-ex-amination she said that she regarded Egley as a fellow employee. Thomas Forsyth, public accountant, who, being approached by Simpson, of the Wellington Rugby League, to examine the accounts of the competition, and had agreed to act, said that he communicated with the office of Pobar and Blake in August, September, and October, but Pobar was absent. In October he got In touch with Pobar, who said that his accountant was out and that he was not ready for an audit. Later witness was introduced to Egley, who was described by Pobar as the accountant, and witness was again told that the firm was not in a position to start the audit, because some dockets and cash were outstanding from Blake. Later he met Pobar in the street and Pobar said he was sending for witness almost immediately, but witness never heard from. Pobar. He reported to Simpson that he was not satisfied, as he was never permitted to see or audit the books. Maurice Wilfred Revell gave evidence of printing tickets for the competition. He was paid by National Motors, Ltd., for part of the work done on Marshall’s instructions, but £6B 15s 7d was owing by Pobar and Blake,

Leon Gordon Macdonald, motor mechanic, of Valley and Bay Motors, whose garage at Lower Hutt was run by his father, said that on March 21 n test was held In the garage. The car tested was a sedan, coloured a light yellowy brown. It had run a few thousand miles and was not anything like new. The car’s speedometer registered not much more than 5000 miles, but witness thought the car had done more than the speedometer showed, judging by the appearance o£ the car and the tyres. Just before the test witness saw Pobar with the seals in his hand, but did not see him take them from the car. All four wheels were jacked up, the petrol tank drained, and the motor run till the carburetter was dry. Eighteen gallons of petrol were then put in the tank. Witnesses of the Test When the test started there were present Pobar, witness’s father, witness, a garage employee named August, and Grimwood. The engine was started and Grimwood recorded the time with a chronometer. The car was brought to the stated revolutions as soon as possible. The test started before lunch one morning and the engine ran all that day and night., No one was left in attendance during the night. Witness arrived at the garage about 9 next morning and was present when the engine stopped. Also present were Pobar, August, and witness’s father, and there might have been others. Pobar noted the stopping time on the chronometer and wrote it down. Witness thought his father also noted it He saw the time written by Pobar. It was 21 hours 11 minutes 1 second. When Pobar had written the time, he said, “Thank God for that,” and was away for a few minutes in the lavatory. He left the note of the time on an office table. When he returned he came to the office where witness was with August and witness’s father. He said he had the butts arranged in hourly sequences. He sought the bundle with 21 hours and brought it out. They each took a portion of the bundle and went through the portions individually. Generally the minutes and seconds were arranged in sequence, but there wore some tickets out of place. They sorted for 45 minutes to an hour before the winning ticket was found. While this was going on the note of the running time was in front of Pobar. Witness thought Pobar found the winning ticket, but did not see where it came from. He first saw it when Pobar held it up to try to identify the writing on it. which was not clear. The time on it was 21 hours 11 minutes 1 second, exactly right. Witness was not aware of any other tickets being found showing the exact time. He thought there were one or two other tickets from the man who held the winning ticket, each being a second in either direction from the winning time. Witness found one of these tickets. The name on the winning ticket was not clear; it looked like Gayfor; Jayford, or Layford, and bore no street address, only Wellington. The butt was filled in in pencil. All the butts were taken by Pobar. The witness was not cross-examined. • Evidence of Winner William Henry Gayford, agent, of Eastbourne, said he had known Pobar for four or five years. -He bought a book of tickets in the competition from Pobar. He paid nothing at the time for the book, which was handed to him by Pobar to try to sell. He paid for the book when he handed in the butts some weeks before the final test, filling in the butts of the tickets he had not sold. Pobar made an offer to exchange the competition car for witness’s if witness paid the mortgage, but witness would not exchange his own car, as it was superior. He went to National Motors, Ltd., and sought legal advice, as a result of which he decided to abandon his claim for the car, “because he was not going to throw good money after a bad end.” Witness said Pobar was pressing him later to sign the car away, giving as his reasons that his partner had let him down badly, that he could not find the mortgage money, and would probably have to go to gaol. Witness wrote and signed a statement relinquishing his claim “for valuable consideration received.” That consideration was £1 to reimburse him for the cost of the tickets and shouting at the clubs when Pobar introduced him as the winner.

Albert McGregor, accountant, of the inspector’s branch of the Treasury Department, .who examined the books, tickets, and butts received from Detective Murray, said he found the cash book incomplete. Payments out, according to the pass and cash books, were £1046, and receipts would not

be as high as £2482. A reasonable statement would be £2OOO. Twenty-four of the witnesses have been heard, and the final witness, Detective Murray, will give evidence tomorrow.