WHAT MAY HAPPEN TO A TRAVELLER IN WAIKATO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1054, 1 April 1867, Page 6

WHAT MAY HAPPEN TO A TRAVELLER IN WAIKATO.

We have been placed in- possession of the fol- ' lowing acountfrom a trustworthy source : — A person of gentlemanly address presented 'himself a few days since at the branch office of the Bank of New Zealand at Ngaruawahia, and, (representing himself as a Mr. K- , just ar--1 rived from Otago with the view of selecting land in the Waikato.-.enquircd. whether a sum of £50 had been deposited for him there by the Union Bank. The agent's reply was in the negative, and on the npplicatiou being made by Mr. R that the money might be paid to him on the strength of his representation, he-at once declined to advance it". The gentleman then produced his-bank book, in which it appeared that there was a considerable sum to his credit at the Union Bank in Auckland. The agent of the New Zealand Bank at Ngaruawahia was still inexorable. Mr. R then asked'whether,.if he should telegraph down to Auckland, and receive a favorable answer from the Union Bant, tho money would be paid. This proposal was acceded to ; the agent of the New Zealand Bank at Ngaruawahia (Mr. Hume) having become impressed with a belief in the integrity of the applicant. Mr. R at once proceeded to the telegraph office, sent his message, and returned to the bank ollice in about two hours' time with the information that?, though he had waited tho whole time, no message in; return had been received.. He explained to Mr. Hume how awkwardly he was fixed, having relied upon the money being forwarded on for him to Ngaruawhia. He appeared so solicitous., and his credentials so satisfactory, that Mr. Hume decided on advancing-the money, and handed him fifty soveroigns. Feeling rather uneasy during the night as to the wisdom of tho course he had taken, Mr. Humo went down early the next morning to the telegraph otGeo, and hurriedly despatched a telegram to the Union Bank, asking for a reply to Mr. R 's telegram of the preceding day. In a short time he received a reply to the following effect —" Mr. R has no account here."

Mr. Hume felt that he had been sold. He at once despatched, telegrams to the several settlements in Waikato, and at Te Awamutu Mr. 21 was arrested, brought back to Ngaruawahia,.and taken before the Resident Magistrate. All the defence that he could offer was his assertion that he hud an account at the Union Bank, and a very considerable balance there, in proof of which he produced the bank-book already shown to Mr. Hume. He stated that he could not account for the answer to Ml*. | Hume's telegram, or the non-arrival of order to the New Zealand' Bank in Ngaruawahia to advance £50 to him, as before he left Auckland he had given orders to have the £50 paid to his credit into that bank. Seeing that his position was an awkward one, Mr. Rap- j peaTs to have been struck with a new idea to I set himself right. He produced a sealed envelope, enclosing a letter addressed to Mr. G , a well known solicitor in Auckland, which he said was a letter of introduction that had been given liim by Major R ,of Otago. He was sure that under the circumstances Mr. G would forgive him for breaking the seal, which he at once did, and the letter was read in Court, and contained a statement that the bearer, Mr. R , was a friend of the writer, and that, Mr. G—— would do the writer a favour "by rendering Mr. R any assistance in his object in visiting Auckland, that of selecting land upon the Waikato. The Court, like Mr. Hume, on the occasion of advancing the money, became favourably impressed with Mr. R.'s manners and credentials, and it was decided again to apply to the aid of the wires. This time the result was very different ; an answer was immediately returned that Mr. R.'s statement was quite correct, and that £50 had just been paid to his account at the Bank of N. Z'. in Auckland by the Union

3 Bank. Matters were thus set right. Many apologies were ninde for his detention, and for the annoy- : ances to which he had been put, and Mr. R. went - on his way. Mr. R then visited Cambridge, and took I np his quarters at an hotel, where he was not a ; little astonished at the excitement which his • presence occasioned — everybody seeming to - wish to have a look at him. This he thought r was a peculiar habit of the natives, akin perhaps , to the American one,but he was soon undeceived. L A detective sauntered in in the course of the 5 evening, and asked him if his naino was not ; R ,and on receiving an answer in the affirmative, took him into custody. His description 5 had been sent to the several settlements, 1 and it had been ommitted by the authori- ' ties to cancel the- instructions to. arrest him. In spite of his remonstrances and explanations, 1 the policeman insisted on his adjournment to I the lock-up, and' Mr. R • was actually locked L up, and spent the night with a drunken militiaman. The next-day he was a second time sent ■ down to N garuawahia, and with many apologies ■ again bowed out of Court. He is now, we believe, ia Auckland for tho purpose of takingactions against those whose carelessness and neglect had been the cause of so much loss and annoyance.