WAIPAWA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 10072, 13 August 1895, Page 4

WAIPAWA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT). AUgnst 12, 1895 This morning at the Magistrate's Court, before Messrs Johnson and Inglia, J.P.'a, Ada Maude Carver pleaded puilty to a charge of endeavnrlne tb obtain money under faUb pretences from Mr Sydney Johnston, Of Tampan, on or nhout the Uth July last. Mr F. 08. Loughnan appeared on her behalf, and aeked for leniency on account of her family and husband, and supgei-t d that she should be ordered Io Ci)iu« up for judgment when called npon. The Bench said they could not treat the mabter so lightly j the offe ca w.is a s°rlcus one, not ouly under a law which Ullicted a mixlmnm punishment of a year'B imprisonment with hard labor, but from a moral point of view, as being calculated to dry up the benevolence of charitably disposed persons in really necessitous cases. The case was a gross one, the defendant had written a planslblo and artfally-eontrlved letter, B*king for aid for a widow with a large family, which was false. As, however, ib was a first offence they would have admitted her to probation under the First Offacders Probation Act had it been possible, but there was an anomaly in the law so that while this could be done in the caso of a greater offence, it could not la a lesser, as it only applied to indictable cases and

not those under summary jurisdiction. Had she obtained the money she could have been admitted to probation, but as she only attempted to obtain it, she could not. On this acconnt they would order her to be kept in custody for three hoars. The iireumstances of the above case were as follows : — A person signing as " Miss Blanch Bell " wrote to Mr Sydney Johnston. Takapau, stating that she was raising a subscription in aid of a widow with nine children ; that the case was a very argent one ; that, she had received £110.1 6i ot her Sunday- school In sums of 6i each from the scholars ; she had given 10s herself and a friend ss, and all contributions would be acknowledged In the Mail, if desired. As the recipient of the letter was donbtful as to its autbentloity he referred It to the almoner of the Charitable Aid Board, who at onoe saw it was fraudnlent, as no snob ca?e had occurred in Hawke's Bay, and handed It to the police for further Investigation, by whom the letter was traced to the prisoner.