"INCORRIGIBLE"

Evening Post, Issue 73, 23 September 1936, Page 18

"INCORRIGIBLE"

MAN GIVEN THREE MONTHS

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, This Day. A "professional imposter" was the police description of Harry Walker I Reid, aged 42, who was sentenced in the Magistrate's Court this morning to three months' hard labour for attempted fraud. The chief detective told the Court that Heid, while an inmate of the Balclutha Hospital, where, incidentally, he left without paying, posed as a holder of the Victoria Cross, and promised the donation of a wireless set to the hospital in appreciation of the fine treatment he had received. The accused attempted to secure goods from a drapery firm by false pretences, posing as a wealthy farmer. When he called back at the shop he saw a detective who arrested him last year, and he left hurriedly. The chief detective suggested that the shock Reid received in the encounter might have been the cause of his contracting stomach trouble and retiring to the hospital. He had nine previous convictions. The Magistrate said that the accused was incorrigible. E. Johnston and Co., auctioneers, will sell household furnishings at their mart, 8 Willeston Street, tomorrow at 12.30 p.m.