BOWRON FRAUDS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1174, 8 July 1911, Page 5

BOWRON FRAUDS.

I"HE PRISONERS SENTENCED. By Telegraph—Fre,3B Association-Oopyriaht London, July G. Sentences were to-day imposed on John Allan Bowron, aged 08, senior partner in tho firm of Bowron Bros., leather mer:hauts, of Bermondsey, and Thomas Loouan Knight, til, a wharf foreman em- c ployed by tho linn. " The charges against the prisoners were that they had conspired to defraud the ' lit. Hon. Charles Booth and others, trad- ' ing as Messrs. booth Bros., skin mer- ' chants, of £2\i,m. s Each of tho prisoners was sentenced to eighteen mouths' imprisonment. Sydney Bowron, the junior partner in ' the firm had previously been acquitted. SYSTEMATIC SWINDLERS. ' HUGE SUMS INVOLVED. [ In tho Lower Court, Mr. Travel's Hum- ) yihreys, counsel for the prosecution, told i the magistrate that the books and other evidence had disclosed an elaborate and somewhat complicated system of fraud, ' as a result of which several firms in the 1 skin trado had been defrauded of largo , sums of money. Ho would be near tho . mark if ho said that by no means represented tho loss to tho trado by the methods adopted by tho defendants, and similar to those used in this caec. The Bowrons carried on business as tanners in London and at Crayford, while in London they were also importers of sheepskins from New Zealand. For a great many years the practice had been that the Bowrons would have invoiced to them from New Zealand a quantity of skins, and would go to Booth's for a loan on tho skills, which were then on the high seas. In practically every caso Messrs. Booth advanced tho full amount asked—about 00 per cent, of tbo value. The Bowrons would give delivery orders on tie Phoenix Wharf Company, tho owners of tho Phoenix Wharf, a,nd later the delivery orders would bo exchanged for warrants issued by tho wharfingers and signed by Knight as manager for tho Pkoonix Wharf Company. The warrant' would bear tho words, "This warrant is the only document issued by me as the legal symbol for those goods." On March 15 there woro some SOD casks of "grains," for which Messrs. Booth aiid Co. held warrants which had been issued by tho Phoenix Wharf, and for which no trust certificates had been issued. On those casks Messrs. Booth had advanced J!28,670. When tho Bowrons were sued, a clerk was 6ent, as a, matter of business, to seo whether tho casks wero on the wharf. They were not. The meaning of that became apparent, a few days later, when the Bowrons filed their petition, as Bowrons and as the Phoenix Wharf Company. If Messrs. Booth bad had tke least - idea th.it the Phoenix Wharf Company was merely another name for Bowron Brothers they would never have advanced a shilling on goods, becauso their solo security was the belief that the warrants were issued by n.u independent person. Knight was also charged with altering the marks on the casks, so that one lot of 51 casks, for instance, was mado to do duty four times over. The brands were changed, and advances were received from four firms on tiro some 51 casks. Letters found at the wharf (counsel added) sliowcd that tho alteration of numbers was dono under tho direction of John Bowron, and in one letter he wrote: "When you re-mark, do it with black varnish, as it dries quicker."