OFFICIAL'S CRIME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22543, 7 October 1936, Page 18

OFFICIAL'S CRIME

COURT SEALS FORGED REGISTRAR IN AUSTRALIA STATEMENT FROM THE DOCK [from our own courtKSI'ONDKNT] MELBOURNE, Oct. 1 The principal registrar of the High Court of Australia, Seaforth Simpson Mackenzie, aged 53 years, was found guilty in the Criminal Court yesterday on three charges of forgery and three charges of uttering. The jury added a recommendation to mercy. Mackenzie was charged with forging the Office Seal of the High Court, the Great Seal of the High Court and a document that purported to be a discharge from bankruptcy, and with uttering the two seals and the document. The Crown ease, was that in 1931 John Bailey, motor salesman, was negotiating for the sale of his patent design for detachable shirt cull's to George Alfred Giles, but the negotiations were hampered because Bailey was an undischarged bankrupt. It was arranged that Giles should pay Bailey's debts in bankruptcy so that Bailey might secure his discharge. Mackenzie knew of the arrangement, and for IN months Giles was led to dispose of sums amounting to £ISOO to Mackenzie in the belief that he was paying oil Bailey's debts. Contentions lor Defence On July 9, 1935, it was alleged, Mackenzie issued a document, bearing the Office Seal of the High Court and purporting to give Bailey the right to sell the patent. Another document issued bv Mackenzie on December 9, which bore the Great Seal of the Court, purported to give Bailey his discharge from bankruptcy. After evidence for the Crown, on the lines of the lower Court hearing, reported in the Hkkat.d, Mr. J. M. Cullity, for Mackenzie, announced that his client would make a statement from the dock. Mr. Cullity said Mackenzie had no idea that the documents would be regarded as genuine or that anyone would be harmed by them. The importance of the office of principal registrar of the High Court had been magnified, and the jury should rid its mind of any idea that the position called for a man of mighty commercial knowledge.

There wore only two or three others in the office, said counsel, and the High Court sat in Melbourne for only three months in the year. It was a routine Government job, and Mackenzie did not have to do much more than tax bills of cost. Mackenzie had no more experience of the world of commerce and finance than elderly spinsters at whist parties. He was, in fact, a man much more interested in poetry and art. Mackenzie would say that the documents were drawn up and sealed at tho request of Bailey and that he did not think anyone would regard them as official. He would also say that the only money he had received was obtained as personal loans, and that the total involved was between £7O and £BO. Accused's Statement

"I am absolutely innocent of these charges," said Mackenzie in his statement from the dock. "I did not intend at any time that either of these documents should be regarded as anything but a specimen form. I did not intend that they should be used in anv way to discredit Giles, or that because of them he should be induced to pay money to Bailey. It did not occur "to me that anyone could be harmed by them. They did not relate to any matter before the High Court. Bailey told me lie had read some of luv poetry and admired it greatly. He convinced me that he had a very valuable design for a patent." Continuing, Mackenzie said that Bailey had asked for his help in filling in an official form in tho Bankruptcy Court relating to his discharge. From that time any letters written by him were written at the request of Bailey and contained information which Bailey had given him. At Bailey's request he drafted a specimen form to guide him in obtaining authority for the sale of tho patent. "He asked me to let him see how it looked with a seal." added Mackenzie. "1 very foolishly did this, not realising that he could turn it to his own purposes. "Entirely Innocent "

"I was for live years on service in New Guinea during the war," added Mackenzie, "and 1 had a great deal of malaria. When I returned I felt that 1 could not do the ordinary work of the Public Service, and I obtained the position in the High Court. In recent years I have been financially embarrassed at times because some of my investments were made valueless by the depression. I borrowed amounts from Builev because I thought ho was a friend. I feel that these charges have broken■me. I could not go into the witness-box because of the shock and strain from which I am suffering. ] have given 22 years of unblemished service to the Commonwealth. I have been very foolish, but I assure you that I am entirely innocent." Judge's Summing Up

In his summing up to tho jury Mr. Justice Martin asked whether a more desperate defence could bo imagined than that advanced bv Mackenzie. If it were true, there was no schoolgirl in Victoria who was so simple and trusting as the accused. One knew that small boys put false moustaches on their faces to see what they looked like, but could it seriously be believed that a man who had the custody of tlie High Court seals would affix those seals to documents, which purported to be orders of the Court, just to let a man see what they looked like? After a retirement of three-quarters of an hour tho jury found Mackenzie guilty on all counts and added a recommendation to mercy. He was remanded for sentence.

A message, from Melbourne published yesterday stated that Mackenzie was sentenced to four and a-half years' imprisonment.