“UNDER THE TABLE”

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 July 1946, Page 7

“UNDER THE TABLE”

' FLOUTING OF LAND SALES ACT OFFENDER FINED £lOO (P.A.) AUCKLAND, July 31. The serious view taken by the Court of the flouting of the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Act, 1943,'was stated by Mr J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Police Court today, when he gave a stern warning to intending vendors,- purchasers and to real estate agents concerning the passing of “something under the table” to the vendor. Mr Luxford delivered a long ]udoment relating to the prosecution on July 22 against Frederick George Thomas Whitfield, alleging breaches of the Act in a property deal in which Whitfield was the purchaser. It was alleged that Whitfield wrote a cheque for £llOO in purchasing furniture contained in a house, which he was also buying. . The Magistrate said that in point of fact the furniture was not worth more than £lOO. . “Although it is notorious that m many transactions money passes illegally between the vendor and the purchaser, this is the first occasion in Auckland on which a prosecution has been brought,” said the Magistrate. It would be well that the serious view that the Court took of such matter should be understood. He would impose the maximum monetary penalty of £lOO,