ESCAPADE OF A NEW ARRIVAL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 45, 17 November 1920, Page 8

ESCAPADE OF A NEW ARRIVAL

''CADGES HIS WAY FKOM TOWN TO ' TOWN." ■! A young man named Herbert Edward Oobb,-who was at one time a broker in Johannesburg, and who served for five years in. tha war, pleaded guilty before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., yesterday morn- • ing to four charges of issuing valueless , cheques. He obtained J3lO from A. E. ■ Whyte, secretary of the Wellington Racing Clubj £i Is. Bd. from Norman Leslie Stevens, Patea; and cEO and <£G ss. (Id. in separate sums from William Bever'idge, of Patea. Chief-Detective Ward said thnt the accused opened an account with the Bank of New South Wales,' Patea, oil August 11, with . vEIS, that sum having been given] to him to enable him to make a start for,"himself in Patea. Between August 19 and November 10 he drew cheques for 'a total of <£124 Us. "This young man," remarked the chief-detec-tive, "was sent out from Home, and arrived in the Dominion in January. His passage was paid by his relatives, and his clothes were bought for him by his brother. A firm of solicitors in England ' t-ent out to the Pu'blic Trustee JCIOO for Cobb, and lie got through that money by June. He has done no work since he arrived in New Zealand, and has lived on the generosity of those with whom he came in contact." The chief-detective - also said that Cobb belonged to a sood family at Home, and was well'educated, ' ' nnd that had enabled him to "radge his ■way from town to town." He owed hundreds of pounds nnd had gone so far as to borrow money from Chutch of England'clergymen, who, it was well known, could ill afford to lose any money. He borrowed money from a total stianger, • and when the latter asked for his money back he wrote an insulting letter to the "air. Sievwright saul that the statement of the ehief-dctectivu was not altogether correct- Cobb had arranged for an advance'of .£3OO, and part of this money . was paid in cash. The. £15 sent to lum •in Patea, was part of that advance, nnd -when lie issued the cheques he was exoeeting that further amounts of the ' , advance would be sant to him. In ftdditioh, lie lia<l owing to lwixn ior work c3bb gave evidence and stated that all the cheques had been paid. He had worked for Newton lung, Ltd., and left the company through a misunderstand--IDThe Magistrate said that the man had 'been cuilty of an ordinary swindle: Ho • mined a bank account, secured a cheque took and issued cheques until the book tos exhausted. He was ,a well educated man and had business, experience, and therefore have known tho dangers Tfwuing valueless cheques. He was the moreaSserou. because he was very ~' ■11. rv,i,b was sentenced to six months' ' imprisonment, to be followed by twelve months' reformative treatment.