MAORIS' MONEY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22878, 5 November 1937, Page 14

MAORIS' MONEY

NUMEROUS CHARGES handwriting evidence THREE COUNTS DISMISSED TRIAL ON NINE OTHERS Evidence by a handwriting expert regarding signatures on several documents completed the adjourned chaigcs against George Graham (Mr. Selwyn Clark} in the Polieo Court yesterday. Twelve charges concerning alleged financial transactions with two Maoris were preferred, three being dismissed by Mr. Wyvern Wilson. S.M. These charges alleged that accused received £3O tis fid from tho Registrar of Pensions, Auckland, and fraudulently omitted to account for it to Aluii Watene, thereby committing theft, and that ho made a false cheque for the amount and negotiated it. Nine other charges, on which accused was sent to tho Supreme Court for trial, alleged the theft of £l3 9s 2d from George Nepia, being moneys duo to him as rent for property of which ho was part owner and also an amount due to liim from the Tairawhiti Maori District Land Board. Accused was also charged with making false documents, cheques for three amounts, and with negotiating them. Signatures on Documents A handwriting expert, Henry William Scott, said he examined certain documents on August 11, including : specimen signatures, a statement, to I the police, a receipt and a pension ' application signed by Muri Watene. ! Witness said it would be a physical ' impossibility for the person who i signed the statement and the specimen I signatures to liavo written in similar j style to the person who signed the rei ceipt, and tho person who signed tho , pension application, positively did not sign tho receipt. Cross-examined, witness said it was a matter of his personal opinion, based on his knowledge of handwriting, that brought him to the conclusions he had stated. Signatures would alter as the degree of infirmity of the writer Jluctuated. In reply to the magistrate, witness said there were points of similarity in the application and the receipt, such as there would bo if the receipt had been copied from the application. When the difference between the dates of the documents was pointed out by the magistrate, witness said it was possible for a wrong date to have been written on the copied document. "An Unreliable Witness" "I do not think it is any use going any further with this case," said the magistrate. "I am quito satisfied that the old Maori, Watene, was an unreliable witness. Ho swore he signed the application. which, however, was signed by Airs. Babbington, who wrote out the application for him when he told her bo could not write. But he can write, as he has given samples of a wobbly kind of signature on several occasions. He also says the receipt is not his as he never signed it. "In spite of the theory of the handwriting expert, who says the documents are so much alike that one may have been copied from tho other, I am not prepared tc say one is false." added the magistrate. "I do not think a jury could find a man guilty of forgery on the word of a witness so unreliable as Watene. These charges must therefore be dismissed " , Remaining Charges Referring to the remaining charges, Mr. Clark said the final analysis lay in the practically uncorroborated evidence of a witness who admitted addiction to liquor and that he was always hard-pressed financially. Against this evidence there was a straightforward statement to the police by accused when he was first interviewed on May 12, and it was a matter for comment that the police had gone to some lengths in an attempt to formulate a case against accused.

The magistrate said that in disposing of indictable cases, it was never his practice to comment on the evidence. He would go no further than to say that there was a case for accused to answer.

Pleading not guilty to the remaining nine charges, accused was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Bail was fixed at £SO.