ALLEGED FRAUDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 167, 8 April 1908, Page 7

ALLEGED FRAUDS.

, . ■ Lh-: ••"' THE MILE END' CONTRACTORS. ' 0T TELEGRAPH —ritESS^'ASSOCIATION— COPYRIGHT. ; London, April 6. James Calcutt, a builder, and Joseph Cade, , a coal merchant, were remanded on bail on ' charges, of. fraud,,upon ,the. ; .Milo jnd| Board of Guardians, in connection with the contracts and administration. of the Mile End Workhouse. "OVERCHARGES" AND "LEGAL FRAUD."'-:' :: ' lasting' 25 days, conducted- by' Mr. P. J. Wilhs, Inspector, of; the-Local'Gov-ernment Board, concluded • tho taking- of evidence on December'l9:-."At th 6' final'sitting; one of the two contractors now remanded, James Calcutt, was recalled; In reply to the' Inspector, he said that after-hearing-the evi- 1 dence ot ,the Crown surveyor, ho did not-wish-to say anything further. .He still adhered to Jus statement that no; gnardiatipevpr'.. received' any-profit out of his bdsin'ess.' 'lie' - could not' account for the charges for--worlt. .that-had not been done; his;men made - the .entries onthe . time-sheets themselves. He charged the guardians ,£8 10s. each for the slop links, when Messrs. Shanks supplied 'him with them, including everything, for about v£s; but it was his intention to charge , the list price'. His clerk might havo made a mistake. (Laughter.) With regard to the baths, •:lie' had -bought second-quality baths from Mess'ris.-- Shanks,-al-though he charged first-quality price. In some instances he chargcd the guardians more than the list-price, and that, again, might be due to: .a mistake; • It was'/'iipt" probable he wished' to- rat more than he'wafc entitled-to-'receive. Mr. Casson, ou behalf of the. guardians, said that as a whole they.'had no de'siro' to shield ' anyone. The cry, "Local work for local men," had done tho mischief, and was a cry that might, bo ended by ;; the Local Government Board's issuing fresli. regulations l with"regard to. the contracts. • r - : Mr. Kobb, for Stepney ratepayers, contended that what had been, done ..was. not done.'.ont of regard for the poor, but. .was'due!to a: sordid subordination of public prinicples' for" paltry pelf. What had occurred-was not due to carelessness or mistake,, but showed. ,a , systematic « course of fraud and corruption on an extensive scale. The regulations with "regard to ■ contracts were sound, : , provided . the spirit. ; of them was' carried'out by boards of guardians; but what they ; suffered from in Mile l!nd was a deliberate ignoring. of: those regulations. The whole of the evidence; pointed to a fraudulent conspiracy between Mr. Calcutt ' and the guardians. 'HWitli" regard 'to' tho coal . dealings, it had also been proved that they wero fraudulent. Mr., Eolib went on to re-' view other matters, and contended V that': here were a ring of guardians, aiid a ring of "con-' .tractors working together,for mutual plunder: Mr. Robinson, for Mr. Calcutt,' said that his client had to carry out his. contracts to the best of his ability, and make as much monev as he could. He submitted there was no evidence of fraud with regard to Mr. Calcutt, _ and he insisted that no jury in'the world would take any notice of the evidence of Mr. Knight. He admitted that his client had made overbliargcs, but'that was a very different thing from .legal fruad.., ,