NOTABLE CRIMINAL LIST

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 105, 4 May 1926, Page 8

NOTABLE CRIMINAL LIST

LIGHTEST FOR FORTY YEARS

The quarterly sessions of the Supreme Court were opened with the hearing of criminal charges to-day by his Honour Mr. Justice Reed. The following were the Grand Jury: David Milligan (foreman), Alfred Charles Calton, David Edmond Barnes, Harold Henry Miller, Ernest William Stafford, William Harris, Harold William Moore Brown, Frank Edward Dornwell, James Hamilton Drake, Hubert Conrad Morton, John Edgar Bass, Charles Hay wood Mirams, Samuel M'Millan, Thomas Martin, Campbell Scolan, William Bell, John Douglas Smith, Herbert George Rice, William Petty, Harold Purser Poole, Robert- Read, George Osborne, and Eric Henry Napier. Addressing the grand jury, his Honour said they would no doubt be pleased to know that their labours would be exceedingly light. There were but three cases to come before the grand jury. "I am informed," said his Honour, "that a search of the records of the Court shows that such a condition has not existed for at least 40 years. I think the district may be congratulated, at the present time at any rate, on the absence of crime. None of the cases that will come before you are of ' a serious nature. There are none of those unfortunate cases of offences against children." True bills were found by the grand jury in all three cases. AValter David Fisher, when charged with obscene exposure, pleaded guilty and was remanded for sentence. Trevor James Phillips, charged with the forgery of a cheque on the Bank of New Zealand, Te Aro branch, for the sum of £60, on 26th February, 1926, in the names of C. B. Bowater and Hugh Hunter, and further with having acted as though it were genuine, pleaded not guilty. Mr. P. S. K. Macassey appeared on behalf of the Crown, and Mr. R. Scott for the. accused. The Crown Prosecutor said that Phillips went into possession of a shop with the intention of purchasing a business. The price had been agreed upon as £200, and the accused was to give a cheque for £60 as a guarantee, but the accused later decided not to go on with tho purchase. He had forged the cheque and handed it over, but it was never presented to be cashed. The accused, in a statement, said that he had presented the cheque to allay the suspicions of the owners of the business, as he wished to have time to investigate matters further. He had used the names of two men interested in the Protestant Central Hall account, with which he had formerly been concerned. Mr. Macassey stressed tho fact that a forgery was complete as soon as the document was represented as a genuine one. This cheque was handed over to be held by the owners until completion of purchase, and therefore was represented as valid and genuine. (Proceeding.)