FORGED £5 NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22866, 22 October 1937, Page 14

FORGED £5 NOTES

CHARGES OF UTTERING LABOURER ON TRIAL SHOPKEEPERS' EVIDENCE Four charges of uttering forged £o banknotes, and one charge of attempting to utter a note, were brought against Charles Alfred Kemniers, aged 49, labourer (Mr. Noble), in the Supreme Court yesterday before Mr. Justice Fair and a jury. Accused entered pleas of not guilty. Mr. V. It. Meredith appeared for the Crown. Mr. Meredith said that the notes all bore the same number, and some essential signatures were missing. All the notes picked up so far were issued on Christmas Eve in the same locality iu Queen Street, which was of some significance. Shortly after three o'clock on Christmas Eve, a good timo to pass forged notes on account of the rush of trade, a man identified as accused called at a shop and bought a pair of stockings for l.'3s and tendered a £5 note, Mr. Meredith said. The shopkeeper went behind the counter and examined the note, which he recognised as a forgery. He pointed out that it was a bad note, and accused, who said he had received it from his employer, left. Later in the afternoon accused, witnesses would say, changed a forged £o note in another shop and got £4 10s Id change, and at 8.15 o'clock he bought in a third shop a brass statue, obtaining £1 2s 6d in change, Mr. Meredith said. The fact that the notes were passed in such quick succession indicated that it was done deliberately. The fourth attempt was at a tyre dealer's, where lie bought a tyre and obtained change, and finally ho bought a set of chess-men for £3, paying with another bad note. "In that short period lie cashed four £5 notes, and tried to cash a fifth," Mr. Meredith continued. Accused claimed that he was not in Auckland on December 24, although all tho shopkeepers recognised him and identified him. Evidence on the lines of Mr. Meredith's opening was given by several witnesses, and the hearing was adjourned until this morning.