Further Sustenance Frauds

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 168, 17 July 1937, Page 4

Further Sustenance Frauds

[— * il i MAGISTRATE SAYS ALL OFFENDERS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED. . > AUCKLAND, Last Night. j The view that it was the duty of the j | Labour Department to prosecute in ! every case where it was satisfied that | ! a man on sustenance had deliberately I made a false declaration to obtain a benefit to which ho was not entitled J under the Employment Promotion Fund, was expressed by Air. C. R. Orr-Walker, j S.M., in the Police Court, when a' , further ten offenders were fined. ! “There arc many cases throughout: | New Zealand where hardships have 1 j been involved where the Department 1 i has made arrangements with the I offenders to re-pay sums dishonestly obtained without taking them to J'Court,” said Air. A. T. Grandison, district employment officer of the Department, when prosecuting Joseph Fletcher Nicoll on a charge of making a false statement. 1 ‘ Investigations sometimes disclose special circumstances which u warrant some leniency being extended ° to offenders. This is one such case." s Illness in defendant's family had 11 aggravated the hardships of living on c J relief pay and had doubtless increased c 1 the temptation for defendant to aug- L ment his income by making a false r declaration, said Air. Grandison. The s f circumstances caused the Department i 5 to defer Court action and give the offender an opportunity of refunding by * reasonablo instalments, but only two 1 payments were made. “Tho Department considers that, if i it were now denied the power to exercise the right of processes previously . withheld, it would be forced to refuse i consideration in many cases similar to v 1 this where severe hardship would war- i i rant deferring legal action," Air. ( Grandison added. j i 3 “The Department should not differ- ( j entiate just because it thinks a man’s j I domestic affairs are hard," said tho j Magistrate. “In matters such as that ( before the Court, virtual theft is in- , t - volved, and offenders should be prose- j cuted. The Court should be allowed to decide the matter of penalty." Nicoll was fined £5 and costs 10s. 3 HEAVY FINE UNDEK EMPLOY- j MENT ACT. AUCKLAND, July 16. | A fine of £IOO and costs was imposed , by Mr. C. R. Orr Walker, 8.R., in the Police Court to-day when Joseph Hood ; was charged with making a false state--1 ment under the Empjovment Promotion E Act. A Department of Labour official said Hood registered in 1931 as a married i * man; in July of last year he and a c 2 woman he had been living with went 2 to England. On his return ho unine- \ * diately registered for relief again, des- i r cribing himself as married. At no tune j 3 did Hood disclose what amount of r money was held by the woman with i whom he lived, the official stated, add- 4 1

ing that he had received £IOO 3s in excess of what he was entitled to. Counsel for Hood said he was previously a ship's steward, but had been unable to obtain employment for *« years. “It seems to be a very deliberate case," said the Magistrate in imposing the fine.