THE CASE OF MRS LAWS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7397, 21 June 1895, Page 3

THE CASE OF MRS LAWS.

SENTENCE DEFERRED TILL MONDAY.

THE MISSING MONEY,

HIS HONOR WANTS DETAILS OP

ITS EXPENDITURE

At the Supreme Court sittings this morning, before* His Honor Chief Justice Prendergiist, Isabella Laws, who on Monday pleaded " Guilty " on three chargos of forgery, was brought up for sentence. Mr Dinwiddie, appearing for tho aoonsed, slid he had a statement to make on her behulf, and ask.d £or the morciful consideraiiyn of the Court. In October last, unknown to her husband, the p.ccuted waa considerably in debt. She had been running up bills for Bomo time, and had giveu promissory notes, whioh on falling due ?he had been unable to meet. It was imposf-ible to state the exact amount of the indebtedness, for prior to leaving Napier Mrs Laws destroyed all bills and receipt'). In October the temptation to commit tho orimes on which she stood charged wus placed in her way. H.r husband gave her two deposit receipts on the Bank of New Zealand to re-deposit for twelve months. The bank clerk informed her that the amounts had been placed in the suspense account, and it would therefore be necesiary to withdraw the money and re-deposit it. For this purport he filled up a cheque, whioh the accused took away to get signed, She returned next day with the cheque signed as required. The probation officer in his report said that these signatures showed very great skill and ability, but he {Mr Dinwiddie) submitted that a cursory glance at them oonduct the c r * i ;__js. Ho had given ! her sufficient money to pay the deposit, and believed it to be still in hor hands. Being afraid of her husband becoming acquainted with the fact that the money had been spent, ehe again had recourse to the banking account of the Keohabite Tent. A sum of £120 was withdrawn, £50 of which went towards paying the depo.it on the house, and she had £25 in her possession when she left Napier. The remainder of the money (£SO) was liquidat.d in paying debts, jhe amounts of the Tent's money whioh -ho had used for her own purposes were £110 on the first occasion and £120 on the seoond Shortly after committing the January forg.ries the accused bscame alarmed, and made up her mind to visit her relations at Home with the intention of asking thorn to help her outof her difficulties. The only suggestion he ( _r Dinwiddie) could make was that during the period between October aud January the aocus.d's youngest child was bf.rn, and this would probably have influenced her with regard to the ' second crime. As regarded the husband's ■ position, immediat.ly on the fact of his | wife's flight becoming known to him, he ; made every endeavor to enquire into the \ condition of tho lodge's accounts, and it V was through his efforts that she was pre- | vented leaving for Home. It might be said 1 that he was guilty of neglect, but for a man ( in his position it was impossible for him to • leave his work to attend to tho lodge busi- | ness during the day. Mr Dinwiddie ulso ' asked for morciful consideration oa behalf of | the family. There were nine ohildren, the < eldest being sixteen jears of age, and the ! youngent _ix months He also drew afcten- ' tion to the trouble which the acou _d had I Buffered sinca her arrest, both in mind and .' body, and taking ail the circumstances into ; consideration, be hoped his Honor would see his way clear to exlend to the accused the leniency of the Probation Aot. His Honor: I shall require farther information as to where the remainder of the money has gone.

Mr Dinwiddie said it was impossible to give the details, as the accused had destroyed all her reoeipts. The severe shaking which she experienced in Sjdney as the result of an accident had also affeoted her mind somewhat. Thero was no suggestion, he submitted, that the money hid been sent Home. He would, howover, give all the information iv his poss.ssioi} to the Crown trosecutor.

His Honor : More than you have giv-n me ? If you have been instructed truthfully iv what you have stated, there could be no difficulty in accounting for the other £50. What wages does the husband receive ?

Mr Dinwiddie : £2 10s per week.

Mis Honor: Any person receiving that money regularly cannot very well get far into debt. Was she supposed to assist her husband with his ao.ounts P

Mr Dinwiddie replied that when Mr Laws was treasurer of the Fire Bri.ade she was in tr c habit of doing the banking business for him.

Kis Honor: What I want to be satisfied is, firstly that the husband is not at the bottom of tho trouble; and, secondly, that the money has not been put away somewhere.

Mr Dinwiddie: Tour Honor oan read t'te evidence of Laws and Funko as to tho first point. His Honor: It is not what people say ;it is what we find out

Mr Diuwiddie urged that the whole of the evidence tended to show that Mr Laws had acted straightforwardly throughout. Bad he not taken action when he did the aocused would have got away to Eogland.

His Honor : And what then f The law is so keen nowadays that it is almost impossible to escapo. Deith is the only escape from the police. His Honor then decided to further postpone sentence till Monday morning, in order to allow Mr Dinwiddio to lay before the Crown Prosecutor details as to tho expenditure of the money.