CHEQUE ON TOP OF LAND SALES PRICE IS ALLEGED

Grey River Argus, 25 August 1949, Page 8

CHEQUE ON TOP OF LAND SALES PRICE IS ALLEGED

WELLINGTON, A retired cabinetmaker, James Hodgson Finlay, of Dunedin, pleaded not guilty before Mr T. E. Maunsell, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court today to a charge of a breach of the Land Sales Regulations in that he failed to disclose the receipt .of £250 in addition to the approved price in respect of a property at Seatoun, Wellington. Counsel for the defendant said the defendant had been the victim of a trick by the people who gave the infomation to the police. These people, he said, had paid the money over and had thought they would get it back as a result of later developments. The police evidence stated that the defendant was the .agent for a property in Seatoun owned by his wife. Last' year the defendant and his wife were to shift to Dunedin and it was agreed t.o make an exchange property purchase with a Mrs Ruttledge, of St Kilda, Dunedin. The Land Sales Court reduced the price of the Seatoun property from £2500 to £1950. An agreement was made wherebj? £350 was to be paid over to the defendant over and above the Land Sales Court Price.

Mrs Ruttledge’s son-in-law, Graham Gifford Tait, of Wellington, met the defendant at the Wellington Post Office, where he handed him a cheque for £250, not £350, continued the police evidence. Finlay then opened an account in the name of “Repentance Fund — Undenominational,” with himself as the sole trustee, and the cheque given by Tait was subsequently lodged in this account. The defendant had said that this fund was to be used for “the Lord’s work." Senior-Detective Callaghan is prosecuting for the police and DetectiveSergeant Berry, of Dunedin, is attending the case as witness.