£1000 CHEQUE FORGERY

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 4 May 1935, Page 7

£IOOO CHEQUE FORGERY

CHARGE AGAINST SHOWMAN DEFENCE WILL BE AN ALIBI EVIDENCE r IN NAPIER CASE (Sy Ttlegraptj Press Association.) HASTINGS, May 3. An indication that the defence 'would be an alibi was given in the Napier Magistrate’s Court this morning in the case in which Edward Mountford Tunnecliffe, aged 47, a labourer .ivid showman, was charged that on-February.*l9, at Napier, ..with intent to defraud he obtained from the National . Bank of New Zealand Ltd. the sum of £IOOO in money by means of a false pretence, by falsely representing that a cheque for £IOOO drawn.on the National Bank at Napier in favour of 3003 and purporting to be signed by Henry D._ Hardy was a.good and valid order for that amount.

Tunnccliffe pleaded not guilty and was committed for trial in the Supreme Court at. Napier. Allen Thomas Scott, ledgerkeeper,at the Bank, said that on February 19 about 2 o’clock in the afternoon.a man presented to him a cheque for £IOOO. Scott noticed that the signature-was not quite in accordance with the sped-

men held and, telling the man that he y would not keep him waiting very long, he took the cheque to the accountant, Collins. About, live minutes, later; Collins returned the cheque to .Scott with instructions to pay. Scott marked the cheque and handed it back to the presenter, marking the cheque that the teller was authorised to pay out on it and that there was an account at the bank. Alfred Keith Collins said he had been in the employment of. the bank for 23. years and had been attached to the Napier branch for two years. I'The ledgerkeeper Scott produced a cheque . for £IOOO and Collins compared the signature on the cheque with the specimen signature and\wiith those on ..some paid cheques of Hardy’s. "I was satisfied in my own ; mind that the signature was genuine and authorised' payment,” Collins .said. Evidence regarding Tunnecliffe’s arrest in a Palmerston -North hotel and his alleged identification .was given. Evidence was given by Henry: Dalton Hardy, sheepfaxmer, < Ongaonga, - that the cheque produced, was, not made out and signed by him. .The cheque .form was from his book, but he could, not say when it -disappeared. The cheque , book had been kept on a shelf in. his kitchen. .