PETROL MAKER

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 135, 5 December 1930, Page 11

PETROL MAKER

DEALINGS WITH COMPANY

A CRIMINAL CHARGE

STORY OF HOCUS POCUS

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, 4th December. The claims of an1 inventor to have manufactured synthetic motor spirit and his dealings with a company floated in Auckland formed the basis of a case in the Police Court when Gordon Dugald Crawford, aged 23, was charged with obtaining £100 from Herbert Allan Steadman, of Auckland, .as agent for the New Zealand Petrol Company, Limited, by a false pretence t>y selling to the company a certain-for-mula and process which were valueless. There were further charges of obtaining £25 from the company by falsely pretending that he could manu-. facture a substitute for benzine, of obtaining £100 in the,same manner, and of stealing £22, the property of the company. . . Herbert Allan Steadman said that Crawford claimed to be the inventor of a formula for making petrol or motor-spirit from chemicals. The accused arranged to sell the formula to ,a New Zealand petrol company, and entered into an agreement with. it. The company eventually agreed to purchase the formula. Witness said that on 16th August it was arranged that the formula should be written out and £200 paid to the vendors, Crawford and his uncle. - The formula was secretly written out by tho accused, sealed in an envelope, and deposited in a bank. Subsequently tho accused received money from the company to purchase ingredients to make experiments. Later Crawford said that he had received a threatening letter and had been followed. The letter, which was written on a telegraph form in block letters, was produced in Court. It read: "If you go through with this demonstration you will not live twentyfour hours after." AN INNOCENT TLUID. The witness described a demonstration by the accused which was a complete failure, the accused saying: "We did not have the correct apparatus." Later witness got the formula from the bank. Its contents were as follows: "The formula is concealed on the property' of W. H. Soppett, Hunua, and the place is known only to me. \yhen I wrote it out I neglected to state one important thing: as each and every ingredient is being transferred from the test tube to the container tho person doing it must count from Ito 10. This is very important. I have done this in the interests of the company, as I consider the formula is very much safer where it is than in the hands of any* individual or individuals. I feel sure the company will appreciate what I have done." "There were no chemicals or ingredients mentioned in the formula," continued Mr. Steadman, who said the suitcase was opened at a directors' meeting on 9th October and found to contain a number of four-ounce bottles ■with liquid in tbern, which looked like potassium permanganate. Witness said that on 16th July the accused gave an unsuccessful demonstration, but another on the following day was successful. He produced about two quarts of what appeared to ho motor spirit. He carried out this demonstration alone, and no one saw what he was doing. ' Kenneth Massey -Griffin,- Government analyst at Auckland, stated that on 19th. November he had received jars for'analysis, and on making an analysis of'"the ingredients of each of the jars, ho .found the liquid was a solution of pofassium permanganate in water, being what was known as Condy's fluid. The .value of the materials in the six jarg-was twopence. 'DOCUMENTS GO MISSING. Aeting-Deteciive Moore said he left Auckland on 4th November to escort Crawford back from Sydney. Witness took a. deposition made in Auckland, an envelope containing a formula, and an agreement between the company and Crawford and his uncle. Witness left Sydney with the accused on the Niagara on 13th November. The documents were kept in an envelope in a suitcase in the cabin on the return journey. During the voyage witness found that the documents were missing. He and the accused occupied the cabin; no other person on the ship knew ho had the papers. . Detective Nalder said as a result ot a complaint that the accused was being followed by a strange man into various shops in the suburbs while he was obtaining certain ingredients, he questioned the accused, who showed a great deal of hesitation about going into details. He said all that had happened was that twice when he was in Dominion road he had seen a man watching him. Nothing further was done until the accused reported the receipt of an anonymous letter threatening, his life. Witness said he questioned tho accused with respect to the threatening letter. Crawford admitted that he had written and posted a letter to himself. He said he had sent it because he had ■been threatened by some other person, and ho desired to obtain police protection. ■ Chief-Detective Hammond said no showed the accused one of tho bottles of Condy 's fluid, and asked him if that was one of the ingredients for tho manufacture of motor spirit. _ The accused said it was, but implied that there was something clso in. it. Mr Snedden entered pleas of not 'guilty to all the charges, and the accused was committed to the Supreme 'Court for trial. ' Bail was fixed at £500, with two sureties of £250, a condition boing that the accused reports weekly to tiio police. .