FALSE PRETENCES CHARGE

Evening Star, Issue 20959, 25 November 1931, Page 9

FALSE PRETENCES CHARGE

MAN COMMITTED FOR TRIAL

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.

SYDNEY, November 24. (Received November 25, at 1 a.m.) The false pretences case has been concluded. Supple was committed for trial. The magistrate declared that there was no evidence whatever to incriminate Messrs M'Girr and Ely (members of the Cabinet),

[A message received on Friday read: A charge of false pretences against George Supple, aged fifty-nine, a prominent Labourite, is creating unusual interest owing to the fact that the names of two of Mr Lang’s Ministers, Messrs M'Girr and Ely, are being brought into the proceedings at the Police Court. The evidence is that Supple sought £l5O from David Cragg as a reward for obtaining a license for animal boiling-down works in the residential suburb of Bankstoivn. A detective stated that while ho was secreted under a table in Cragg’s office ho heard Supple ask for £l5O, declaring that he could induce Mr M'Girr, who was then Minister of Health, to grant a license. Later Mr Ely became Minister of Health, and his name was drawn into the negotiations. Both Ministers emphatically denied authorising Supple to make any such offer; on the contrary, they were entirely opposed to a noxious trade being carried on at Bankstown, despite which the Board of Health approved Gragg’s application.]