FALSE STATEMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21758, 24 March 1934, Page 14

FALSE STATEMENTS

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOUR DEFENDANTS FINED A ' warning that .people who continued to make false .'declarations' to the Unemployment Board with the object of obtaining benefits would have to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment was given .by Mr. W. R. McKeati, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday, during the hearing of prosecution!}' brought by the Labour Department. "I must impress upon you that you could be sent to prison," stated the magistrate, when Edgar Case pleaded guilty to a charge of misleading" the Unemployment Board by not disclosing in a form that his wife was earning wages. It was stated by Mr. Grieve, who appeared for the department, that defendant's wife had been receiving £2 a week. Defendant was fined £2.- ~ ! A J similar penalty was' imposed on Neville D. Bennett, f -who admitted making a false statement to the board.; The magistrate commented that /defendant had obviously made the statement deliberately, and ho admitted as much. 5" Henry Charles Alexander, charged with making a false statement that he r and his wife were not in 'receipt'.of pensaid he had no intention, .'of making an erroneous statement. Mr. Grieve said .the form which defendant filled in was quite straightforward. Defendant was receiving a war pension of 15s a week, and his wife was receiving 18s a week. Defendant was A similar fine was imposed on James Fleming, who pleaded not guilty to an allegation that he had made a false statement that his casual earnings for a period of two months were £4, when they actually exceeded £B. Defendant said he wrote 'down the sum from, memory, and he had no intention of misleading the authorities.