AID TO WAR VICTIM

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 126, 30 May 1941, Page 8

AID TO WAR VICTIM

LEADS TO COURT CASE

GIRL STUDENT HELPED

DOLLAR EXCHANGE USED

The means adopted to send money to German-occupied Paris in a fruitless attempt to help a young New Zealand girl student to leave the country had a sequel in the Magistrate's Court today, when Arthur Geddes, factory representative for the Radio Corporation of New Zealand, Ltd., appeared before Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., charged with making, with intent to deceive, a misleading statement in a declaration fojr the purposes of the Finance Emergency Regulations. The girl. Miss Olga Marks, it was stated, was later reported to be in a concentration camp.

Geddes, who was represented by Mr. W. P. Shorland, was not successful in his defence, and was convicted and fined £25.

Some two years ago, said DetectiveSergeant W. McLennan, who prosecuted, the accused undertook a business trip to England and the United States, returning. to New Zealand in December last. The company for which he undertook the trip. Radio Corporation of New Zealand, Ltd., was granted a permit for £600 for Geddes's expenses on the voyage, some of the money to be available in the United States. Shortly after his return to New Zealand, the accused made application for a permit to remit £65(N.Z.), or 200 dollars, to Mr. A. Auriema, of Ad. Auriema, Inc., New York, stating that he had just returned from America, where he had been on his company's business, and while there he had borrowed 200 dollars, as he was short of funds, and wished to repay the loan. At first, said Mr. McLennan, the Reserve Bank refused the application, but Geddes made further representations, reiterating that the money was required by him to meet expenses incurred during his business trip to America. As a result the bank granted his application "with reluctance." OF PARAMOUT IMPORTANCE. "It later transpired that the true purpose behind the accused's application concerned a remittance, in dollars, for the benefit of a person in enemy-oc-cupied territory," said Mr. McLennan. "Had that been known the bank would not have granted it. These offences ] under the regulations are considered very serious, and in the present war situation the policy of conserving overseas funds, especially dollar exchange, is of paramount importance for the successful prosecution of the war. Reginald Thomas Grubb, a clerk employed by the National Bank of New Zealand, Ltd., Courtenay Place branch, described Geddes's negotiations with the bank in connection with the application for permission to remit money to the United States. His bank was banker for the Radio Corporation of New Zealand. Ltd. Mr. Marks, he told Mr. Shorland, was managing director of the company, and in the early part of 1940, through his bank, had obtained a permit to remit sums of money to Miss Marks, who was in Paris. Paris was then under French rule. . , ~ . To Mr. McLennan, witness said thai the remittances would be stopped as soon as Paris became enemy-occupied territory. „ The deputy chief cashier of the Keserve Bank, Alexander Ross, produced correspondence in connection with Geddes's application. Mr. McLennan: Had it been known ( at the Reserve Bank that the true purpose of the accused's application was for the benefit of any person in enemy-occupied territory, would that! application have been granted?—lt would not. Is the policy of conserving overseas funds, especially dollar exchange, regarded as a matter of paramount importance?—We take every opportunity of ensuring that any payment of dollars we authorise is entirely justified. DETECTIVE'S EVIDENCE. Detective-Sergeant W. R. Murray produced a statement in which Geddes said that while in the United States he received a request to remit money to Miss Marks, daughter of the managing director of his company. He did not have the money at his disposal, but Mr. Auriema informed him that his mother was in Paris, and it was then arranged that Mr Auriema should send money to Miss Marks at the same time as he sent it to his mother, advancing 200 dollars. The matter was to be treated as a personal one. Geddes said he would refund the money as soon as possible, and it was in this connection that he made the application for the permit. He did not consider the grounds for the application, as given by him, were any misstatement of the position, and considered that the loan from Auriema was an urgent and unexpected item | which he was compelled to meet, if possible. He considered the application clearly stated the purpose for which the money was required, without going into details about Miss Marks. "PERFECTLY FRANK." Mr. Shorland contended that the evidence did not show any breach of the regulations and that the statement complained about gave the actual purpose for which the money was required. That, from the evidence, was shown to be a true statement. It was submitted that the attitude which the defendant took when interviewed showed that he had been perfectly frank, and considered that what he said was true in all respects. Counsel submitted that the informations should be dismissed. Mr. McLennan said that Geddes was throughout the agent of Mr. Marks. This was obviously known to Geddes, who chose to cloak the affair under the guise of business. '.** The Magistrate said theft Geddes's de. claration was not a correct statement of fact, and his statement that he wanted the 200 dollars to meet business expenses was certainly untrue. He had led the bank to believe that these were expenses incurred by him during his business trip. It was quite possible that he knew that if he set out the true facts the money would not be obtained. A conviction must be entered. i

"If the bank had refused it, you could have gone to the Minister and thrown yourself on Mr. Nash's generosity," said the Magistrate to the defendant.

The offence could not be looked upon lightly, said the Magistrate, when imposing penalty. Security for appeal was fixed.