CHARGES OF FORGERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19953, 23 May 1928, Page 11

CHARGES OF FORGERY.

AUSTRALIAN BANKNOTES. WOMAN GIVES EVIDENCE. MELBOURNE. May ?2. The four men who are charged with having conspired to forge £5 bank notes at a house in Ocean Grove, near Geelong, Stefan Karasiewiez, a Russian process engraver, John Howarth, a contractor, Benjamin Thomas, a tailor, and Ralph Miller, a retired farmer, have been committed for trial. The foreign woman, Senia Marchenko, who lived with Karasiewiez in a remote bush hut near the seaside turned King's evidence, and all the charges against her were withdrawn. She has recently been cared for in a convent by nuns. She said in evidence that she first made acquaintance with Karasiewiez some months ago, when Howarth and Miller took her to tho latter's hut. She was dfnable to speak a word of English, and was unaware of Karasiewiez' occupation, until one day when she saw a half-com-pleted £5 note. Afterwards she saw Karasiewiez preparing the paper and mak*. ing watermarks. Sometimes note printing was done in the presence of Howarth and Miller. Witness made paper flowers, at Howarth's suggestion, as a " blind." When, however, she discovered the note printing she announced her intention of clearing out, whereupon she was given a pair of shoes and scras stockings. Ronald Harrison, engraver and technical adviser to the Commonwealth Bank, said the* counterfeit notes were a splendid imitation. All the accused were allowed baiL The Melbourne police effected the greatest and most sensational coup known for years on April 29, when they raided a suspected house at Ocean Grove, near Geelong, and discovered a complete engraving plaut, and 10,000 counterfeit £5 banknotes. Stefan Karasiewiez, a process engraver, and Senia Marchonko were arrested. When the police broke into the house the man was working at a printing machine. He had a loaded gun beside him, but he did not attempt to use it. The house is situated in a remote part of a thick area of scrub, and the police had to force an entry. They completely surprised the inmates. The raid was the outcome of police investigations into the circulation cf forged £lO banknotes at recent Melbourne and Sydney race meetings.