VALUELESS CHEQUES.

Grey River Argus, 11 February 1929, Page 5

VALUELESS CHEQUES.

A £650 Stunt. BY MIDDLE-AGED COUPLE. INVERCARGILL, Feb. 10. A middle-aged couple, th e man’s name being either McNally or McMahon, were arrested in Gore yesterday, and brought t 0 Ivnercargill to answer charges of obtaining goods and money by means of valueless cheques. It is understood that the couple reside in either Dunedin or Kaitangata, and that they waited upon Invereargill people on Friday, ostensibly to get some cheap money and goods. Their schemes failed, business men who aecep'ed cheques (on a Dunedin bank) becoming suspicious and wasting no time in discovering there was a fraud. Cheques in all totalling £650 were issued, involving the purchase of a piano, a gramophone, £2OO worth of furniture, and a deposit on a house. A prominent land agent was first gulled, and he was so convinced of the sincerity and wealthiness of the pair that he sponsored them around the '.own, enabling them to purchase goods and to cash cheques to their hearts’ delight. They departed for Dunedin by the first train yesterday, but were apprehended at Gore, and will appear at the Court tomorrow morning. THREE YEARS FOR JEWEL THEFT. AUCKLAND, # February 10. At tH> Supreme Court, Mr JusticeBlair sentenced Cecil Francis John Hunt, aged 24, to thne years hard labour lor theft of jew'dlcry from the premises of Meltzer Brothers, pawnbrokers, .on June 25, and one year for receiving, the sentences to tP concurrent.