CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 7342, 5 December 1884, Page 8

CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD.

Dunedin, November 17. The Sydney papers contain full reports of the charge of conspiracy to defraud laid against James Mackay, Edward Pritchard, atid Thomas Hirst Dodson, all formerly of Dunedin. The information was for a conspiracy between the three defendants, and charges that they and “other persons unknown ** have conspired together to defraud Thomas Connor of £7152 3) 7d, his share of the assets of the late firm of Connor and McKay, contractors, to defeat, bii dar, and delay Connor in the prosecution of a suit brought by Mm in New Zealand against James Mackay for the recovery of his aforesud share, and to publish during the pendency of the proceedings in that suit for the purpose of unjustly influencing the decision thereof, a slander concerning Connor described in a letter dated 3rd November, 1882, written by Dodson to McKay in the following words : —“ I shall stop at nothing till I have beaten O’Connor. I think if you could manage to get a sensational telegram or cablegram by one of the paper correspondents to the papers here that a criminal charge bad been laid by an insurance company against a contractor who is plaintiff in a suit that has been so very long before the public, it would perhaps assist us a little, but you must be very careful not to mention any names, and also ba sure that the charge is laid before you do it. I should very much like to see him arrested for it first, as the case is coming on at Wellington. What a sensation it would create, and shake his evidence altogether !’’ The information also contained olhor charges. The Sydney Morning Herald contains over four columns of evidence in the case. The three defendants were committed for trial at the Darlingbuist criminal sessions in the 17th instant. B*il was allowed, each defendant entering into his own bond of £250.