Record Judgment

Hawera Star, Volume L, 7 February 1931, Page 16

Record Judgment

qn; avilliam wateklow, ex-Lord Mayor of London, sat in the King’s Bench Division in London for hours and heard Air Justice Wright give judgment provisionally for £511.1,851 against William Waterlow and Sons, Ltd., the famous firm of bank note printers, of which for years he was the guiding spirit. It was the end of the case in which the Bank of Portugal, as a sequel to a huge fraud, described by tnc judge as unparalleled ifi the history of commerce, engineered by a Dutchman named Marang, claimed £1,150,8id dan - ages from Wat erlows for having in 1915 negligently printed bank notes on a forged order. Throughout Mr Justice Wright’s judgment Sir William Waterlow sat unmoved with folded arms in a seat immediately in front of the judge’s bench. Every eye in the crowded court rested on the tall grev-haired ligure as the judge, in dry, monotonous tones, gave his judgment. Sir William rose at once, and with Lady Waterlow, who had been seated in the jury box, left the building, lie declined to make any comment on the decision.

Waterlows —mainly through the ingratiating manners of a. Dutchman, Marang. The directors of Waterlows fell short of the standard of care which the very special nature of their employment required. The transcript of the judgment alone records nearly 16,900 words spoken uy Mr Justice Wright. and it is calculated that during the 21 days the trial has lasted close upon .1,000,000 words have boon printed in the 20 volumes of evidence and counsel’s speeches. The total number of questions asked witnesses was 9SOI.

A rough estimate of the costs involved in the trial is £50,000, of which it is understood ••ounscl’s fees will total some £20,000. Pour K.C. ’s and three junior counsel were employed. There were over two dozen witnesses, many of them from Portugal and The Hague. While the case has been before the conn several of rhem have occupied suites at leading hotels. The claim against Messrs Waterlow and Sons, Ltd., was the sequel to one of the most astounding bank-note frauds in history. It came to light live years ago. It attracted attention all over the world and created consternation in Portugal. In 1925 a new bank mas formed in Lisbon called the Angola and Metropole. Shortly afterwards the activities of two of its directors were commented on by a Lisbon newspaper.

Jill- Edgar L. Waterlow, chairman and joint managing director, and Mr T. W. Goldsack, joint managing director of the firm, also said they had no comment to make. “It is impossible at this stage to say anything ueliiiilc, ” remarked Mr Waterlow. “We do not want to surmise anything.”

Every available bit of space in the court was filled and a number of people were unable to gain admission. Fashion-ably-dressed women crowded the gallery. Others, whose husbands were concerned in the case, had seats in the jury box.

These directors, it was discovered, had visited London and returned with four large trunks containing the Portuguese equivalent to English £5 notes. Those had been smuggled into the country bv the two directors, it was stated, who had travelled with forged diplomatic passports. The exposure led to a run on the Bank of Portugal. Signatures on the notes purporting to be those of officials of the Bank of Portugal were dec .'a red to be forgeries. Ultimately several people were arrested, and last June men and one woman were sentenced after a trial at Lisbon lasting 20 days. The throe principals in the case were each -eatenced to eight years’ penal servitude, to he followed by deportation.

Mr Justice Wright’s judgment was not a written one, and only occasionally did he make use of the notes he had prepared or of documents from the pile at his side. Points he made were that the scheme of fraudulence employed involved getting bank-note printers to print tin* notes, and by very bad luck the conspirators chose the firm of Waterlow and Sons, Limited. By a series of Ingenious tricks they succeeded in obtaining delivery of 5.80,000 notes from

Famous Waterlow Case

Judge Speaks for Four and a Half Hours

Trial of tlie claim l>y tho bank was delayed earlier last year to allow Sir William Watorlow to complete his trim of office as Lord .Mayor of London, j The Watorlow family has boon con- ! netted will the printing trade for j nearly 150 years. The first of their I name to enter the trade was James I Watorlow, who at the age of 14 was apprenticed to a London law stationer. I (lie has recently migrated with his I family from ißelgium. me present firm I was registered in 1897 as Watorlow and ' Sous, Ltd. Sir William Watorlow enued his connection as managing director in J liX2'S. The company ’s report, dated I November 29, 1928, said: “ Sir William i Watorlow has ceased to be a managing I director as from September JO last, and j has tendered his resignation as a director of the company, which the board l has accepted.’’

The accounts issued in November last the firm showed a decreased profit amounting to £162,305, compared with .£171,540 and £190,804 for the vears 1928 and 1929.

The following footnote appeared in the balance-sheet: “There is a contingent liability in respect of a claim made against the company.’’ The report stated that the reserve fund was again to receive an addition of £30,000, increasing it to £(550,000, so it would appear that- the company has been prov.'iing for any eventuality.

The authorised and issued capital of Messrs. Watorlow and .Sons, Ltd., is £1.770,000, divided into 540,000 preference, 540,000 preferred ordinary, and 090,000 deferred ordinary shares of £l, fully paid. The original capital was £1,350,000, and was increased in 1919 and 1920 to the present amount. -Sir William Watorlow was responsible for the first war issue of paper money in Britain. In August, 1914, he was requested by the dovera inent to design as quickly as possible suitable paper currency. In a few hours Sir William submitted a design. This was accepted, and three days later 15,000,000 notes had been delivered by his firm to the Government. .Early this year Sir William said that his firm had printed 5,000,000,000 notes lor Britain in twelve years and not one had boon losl.