VICTORY BONDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11195, 28 April 1922, Page 7

VICTORY BONDS

CRAVE CHARGES , HORATIO BOTTOMLEY AGAIN IN COURT. A REMARKABLE STORY. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association* (Received Am’il 27. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 26. Horatio Bottomlev was committed for trial in the Victory Bonds case. Later. When the magistrate intimated thaf he would commit Bottomley, tlie latter requested an adjournment to enable him to consider whether to call evidence or make a statement. Tlie case was adjourned until Saturday.

Recentlv at Bow street Court Horatio Bottomlev. 31. P.. was charged with converting to his own use £SOOO belonging to the Victory Bond Club. Sir Travers Humphreys, prosecuting, . said there would 1 be a number of other charges which would be opened later, the liability being penal servitude. By the end of 1919 £493.000 had been receivedl from subscribers, with which Bottoniley purchased bonds, nominally worth £500,000. costing £421,000. On December 17th. £400.000 worth of bonds were deposited with the bank, so that £IOO,OOO already had disappeared by June 16th. 1920. The bank had paid over all the bonds to Bottomley, and they were never returned. Even tually the bonds were paid into the Credit Lyonnais Banff, as security for an overdraft on Bottomley’s private account. Pledging and redeeming continued until the end of February, 1921, when tlie Credit Lyonnais ceased to hold anv bonds, which, from that date, were lost to subscribers; Throughout there were no trustees. Bottomley dealt with the whole of this enormous sum without check. As early as August 11th, 1919, Bottomlev drew £25,000, of which £20,000 was Paid to the Northern Territory Syndicate, nominally intended to develop Northern Australia, but really a mere name, enabling Bottomley to keep another banking account. , The other £SOOO was paid to Bottomley in notes, and was used to take a holiday at Ostend, where he had a stud of raper horses. The rest of the £25,000 -was used to purchase a newspaper, “The National News,” and buy shares in “John Bull,” or wa* handed over to other of Rottomley’e concerns. Later, the Crown counsel announced two further charges against Horatio Bottomley. The first related to the Burohase of the- German submarine 'eutschland. It was alleged that Bottomley took the purchase money of £15,000 from an account of which he was trustee. The seoomd 1 charge was of converting £IOO,OOO to his own use in connection with the Victory Bond Club.