CIGARETTE COUPONS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 231, 26 June 1931, Page 13

CIGARETTE COUPONS

Man Charged With Receiving COMMITTED FOR TRIAL Charged with receiving 22,000 cigarette coupons, knowing them to have been dishonestly obtained, Arthur Hey, storeman, of Wellington, was committed to the Supreme Court for trial in the Police Court yesterday. The case arose from another, in which two women were involved, wholesale trafficking in cigarette coupons being alleged. Hey pleaded not guilty. He was represented by Mr. A. J. Mazengarb. Sub-Inspeotor Ward conducted the case for the police.. When proceedings were continued yesterday from Tuesday, two witnesses, Harold Cole, printer’s labourer, and Frederick Bloomfield, accountant, stated that they had purchased 3600 and 5500 coupons from Hey respectively. . After the evidence of Detectives W. Kane and A. K. Harding had been heard, Mr. Mazengarb, addressing the court, said he considered that there was no case to go before a jury. He submitted that there was no evidence to show that at any time Hey received certificates, nor had he any knowledge that they had been dishonestly obtained. His whole manner throughout had been perfectly open, and when selling the certificates he did not suggest to the purchasers that they should keep the matter secret. It appeared that there had been a considerable amount of trading in these certificates. They had been advertised for sale in the Press, and it seemed to counsel that Hey had bought them at 2/6 a hundred, and sold them again at 3/- a hundred. The magistrate: There is not a scrap of evidence to support that proposition. Counsel replied that he considered there was evidence to support his view, and. reviewed certain sections of the evidence. There was no evidence as to guilty knowledge, he said. In the opinion of the magistrate a straight-out case had been made, and therefore he would send it on to the Supreme Court. _ ' Accused was admitted to bail on a bond of £lOO, and a surety of £lOO.