BOTTOMLEY FOUND GUILTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18104, 31 May 1922, Page 9

BOTTOMLEY FOUND GUILTY.

SENTENCE OF SEVEN YEARS

ACCLAMATION IN COURT.

NOTICE OF APPEAL GIVEN.

By Telegraph— Prasa Association —Copyright.

(Received <1.5 p.m.)

A. and N.Z.—Reutcr. LONDON, May 29.

Horatio Botiomley, M.P., was found guilty of misdemeanour on charges of fraudulently converting to his own use funds of the Victory . Bond Club, of which ho was founder and president, and was sentenced by Mr. Justice Salter at the Old Bailey to seven years' penal servitude. Crowds outside the Old Bailey awaited the conclusion of tho trial. Bottoinley at the ouLsct sat at the solicitors' table. At tho termination of tho prosecutor s speech ho rose and said, "I now go to a place whero an accused person usually goes," and entered the dock. Summing up in the case, Mr. Justice Salter advised the jury not to consider •whether Bottoinley was patriotic or whether he had done much for tho country, or in pursuit of private gain. If the jury wore convinced that he did dishonest tilings they should convict him It was no excuse for Bottomley to say that ho would mako restitution.

Referring to the evidence that counterfoil books were used in connection with tho certificates issued, the- Judgo asked. "Where are tho counterfoils?" This was not a case of an uneducated person who had a few pounds entrusted to him and got muddled. It was the caso of an abla and efficient business man who received important sums of money from people who trusted him, a man who appreciated like any business man in London the importance of correct accounts. Convicted of Heartless Frauds. Any honest account, however kept, would have rendered it impossible for Bottomley to appropriate great sums without immediate detection. The thing had come to light through the Bigland proceedings. The Judge said that th« charge of appropriating £-57,000 drawn for tho purpose of buying newspapers was a, most important transaction embraced by the charges. At that time the clubs did not owe Bottomley money, yet when ho did not succeed in borrowing £100,000 from the bank in tho club's namo ho raised it through a solicitor by moans of the bonds, the money being used to buy newspapers. After the jury had returned a verdict of guilty, tho Judgo said : "Bottomley, you have rightly been convicted of a long series of heartless frauds. These poor people trusted you and you robbed them of £150,000. Tho crime is aggravated by your high position, by the number and poverty of your victims, by tho trust they reposed in you, by the magnitude of your frauds and by the callous effrontery with which your frauds vc.ro committed. I see no mitigation whatever." Bottomley heard the sentence of seven years' penal servitude unmoved, but acclamations aroso throughout the Court. | When order was restored Bottomley j masked whether he could consult his solicitors regarding an immediate notice of appeal. The Judge replied : "Certainly." Bottomley then said t'ivt he thought that a prisoner was asked sf he had anything to say before sentence was passed. The Judge replied: "Such questions are not put in cases of misdemeanour." Bottomley retorted : "I could have said something offensive about you and your summing up." Bottomley was then removed. Subsequently he collapsed. The crowd was excited and astonished at the severity of the sentence.

General Approval of Sentence. The London newspapers generally approve the sentence passed on Bottomley. The Daily News comments: "It has taxed the energies of the ablest lawyers and publicists to bring him to book. Tho public owes a debt of gratitude to those ! who have not relaxed their determination , to expose him." i The House of Commons will take no ! action against Bottomley until his appeal is heard. If it is unsuccessful the Government will submit a motion for his expulsion. In a case of felony membership of the Hoirao automatically lapses, but the House must- consider the circumstances in a case of misdemeanour.

Hofotio Bottomley, M.P., who is now 62 years of age, has for many years figured prominently in tho public notice as a financier and journalist. Many pro vious transactions have involved, him in litigation, and with such success did he I conduct his own defence in several important prosecutions, notably in 1893 and 1009, that he came to be known as the | best " lay lawyer " in the country. For many years he was connected with large financial undertakings in tho City, and was closely associated with Woßtern Australian mining enterprises. He founded tho Financial Times, and subsequently became proprietor of the Sun newspaper. Ho afterwards established tho weekly journal, John Bull, which he used for the flotation of the Victory Bond Club in 19.19. In 1906 ho entered the House of Commons as Independent member for South Hackney, but resigned in 1912 on account of bankruptcy proceedings. In 1918 South Hackney iyjnin returned him to Parliament, and he was also largely instrumental in tho election of General Sir Charles Townshend for tho Wrekin Division in 1920. , The charges on which Bottomley has j been found guilty were concerned with | his administration of the Victorv Bond 1 Club. In 1919, when the Government was issuing Victory Bonds toward the expenses of tho war, Bottomley. through the columns of John Bull, suggested that his readers might like to participate in a lottery which would at the same timo help tho revenue. Every subscriber to this " Victoiy Bond Club " would, in buying a Government Bond throngh tho intermediary of tho club, possess through the samo purchase a ticket entitling him to participate in a lottery for money prizes, which were to be supplied bv the interest accruing on tho total of bonds purchased by the club. It was stated that there was one prize drawing in accordance with the project, and then the authorities intervened on the ground that it was a lottery. There began to bo complaints at tho end of 1920 and tho bryrinning of 1921 from subscribers, who said that they had not been able to obtain the return of their subscriptions. Early in 1921 these complaints were referred to in tho public press. In September, 1921, Keuben Bigland, a printer, of Handsworth. Birmingham! issued a pamphlet entitled, " Tho Downfall of Horatio Bottomley, M.P." This pamphlet attacked Bottomley'fl management of tho Victory Bond Club, and stigmatised that institution as a swindle. Tlie document was printed in large numbers, and was sold by street hawkers. On October 11 Reuben Bigknd was summoned at Bow Street at the instance of Bottomley on a charge of criminal libel. Tho trial at the Old Bailey ended sensationally in the collapso of tho prosecution, and Bigland was acquitted A fortnight later at tho Shrewsbury Assizes Bigland was charged with inciting persons to extort money from Bottomley. This case resulted also in tho acquittal of the accused. In the course of 'the trial Bigl'ind made grave charges of fraud against Bottomley, and Mr. Justice Darlin/;, when summing up. pointed out. that though Bottomley was in Court ho made no attempt to deny Bigland's extraordinary stories of fraud. *