WATSON THE WILY.

NZ Truth, Issue 114, 24 August 1907, Page 4

WATSON THE WILY.

SHARP DEALS IN DOSS-HOUSES.

A Cockle-fish Seller's Snide Swindles.

A Matter the Pol

'"Truth" has had occasion to expose the evil devices of many schemers, but' it is doubtful if the paper has dropped across a more remarkable bounder than T. W. Watson, who dodges laborious toil principally by running Waverley House, 27 Boulcottstreet, Wellington, an establishment dedicated to the accommodation of the trusting lodger. Weary Watson has been a couple of years m the Dominion, and got his living m Manchester as a mussel and cockle merchant. He imported the knowledge of this business to Wellington, where he ran the Chicago fish-shop m Wil-lis-street, a delectable marine restaurant which vanished on the removal of old timbers" m the interests of a street-wid'Oiving scheme. Tom Watson, from Manchester, gave early indication of a future tortuous career toy visiting the Mag-is-trate's Court on a charge of sly-grog selling m the shop aforesaid, and the line of '£10 severely hampered his subsequent operations. Later, we find him running the Nettloy and Waverley boarding houses m Boulcott-street, and his baneful influence so interfered with the public patronage of these establishments that he was obliged to auction his effects m the first building, and at the present day Waverley House, his remaining spec, has abandoned the boarding business and endeavors to keep its head above water by housing four lodgers. Watson is a man who is not to be beaten by a small circumstance like this, and appears to have set about raising the wind by VICTIMISING UNFORTUNATE WOMEN, who are new m the country, and know nothing about the boardinghouse, its past history, and the reason for its present unpopularity. A little over two months ago he met a woman named Mrs Hurley, and endeavored to sell her his interest m Waverlev House for £200. Ht actually obtained a deposit of £2 from the unf ortunate [woman, who does not seem to know anything about business, for she accepted an alleged reoeipt, which is also an agreement containing no signature, unstamped, soiled, blotted, on a piece of paper torn from no bluing m particular, and m the handwriting of the illiterate Watson, as follows .— Mrs I-luriev > Deposit £2.0.0 On ac. for £200 .0.0 For Wavlev Kous. 27 Bulcot St. Wellington. B alienee wen iakon over Wesendav, June 11th, 1907 or Confestetated Deposit, '/Truth" thinks this is a champion curio m legal documents, whioh would be unique were it not accompanied by another of Watson's literary productions, which will be found lower down. It was written on a P"7>day, though purporting to be made out on June 11, which date, by the way, was not a Wednesday. The last line means that the deposit will bo confiscated, and as th« £2 has not been restored we presume it has been "confestetated." Mrs Hurley went to Duneddn tn dispose of her property there, but meantime another lady appeared on the scone, Mrs Ethel B. Mason, who arrived by the Papahui from England on August 0. She is a widow, a woman with no experience of the worldwho left a young family m the O)d Country preparatory to making a home for the children m this young land. On the steamer shq was handed an advertising card, expatiating on the luxurious comfort of Waverley Fouse. so she decided to put up. there. Siho was excellent fish for the net of ex-cockle-seller Watson, who represented to her the desirableness of his boarding-house AS A FORTUNE-MAKING SPEC, and played upon her inexperience with the plausibility of a land agent. He said he had given £200 for the house, but the lady says she has since learned he purchased the goodwill of two houses for £140, and realised £23 only at the sale of effects of one of them. He also told her that he had taken as much as £15 per week, and he actually persuaded the simple woman to give him a deposit of ,£2O, on the understanding that the; balance of £180 would be paid m two months' time. Mrs Mason expects a cousin of hers to arrive here with the money within that period. In view of the agreement with Mrs Hurley, it is difficult to say how Watson will look, or what he will say, m a Court of Law (for "Truth" hopes he will shortly have to submit to an ordeal of this description) . We here reproduce the second astounding document, which purports to "be an agreement, written and signed by Watson, and baar.tng a penny stamp as follows :— Agrement for Wavlev Houa 27 Bolcott st. Aucst 10, 1907.. Wellington N.Z. . Reseved Deposit if Twenty Pounds From Mrs E. B. Mason, on ace £200 two hundred pound Ballanoe £180 one hundred and eighty, Deposit £20 this date 10 Augst Ballance to be sattled on or before October 10, 1907 Or cofiscated as a goening Consern. Hoarding-house, furniture, etc Received this day £20 by T. W. Watson on AC Augst 10, 1907 (Id stamp) T. W. Watson j Wellington, N.Z, Witness, Eliza Rogers. t It will be observed that the .un-" sueakablc Watson made v better list 1 of "confiscated" than un the first ocjcasion- Ponding the payment or the | "Ballance" Mrs Mason took over the management of this wealth-producing I establishment for a small consideraition of 10 percent of the takings. In other words, Watson dodges the responsibility and expense of employing servants by entering; into an agroe- ! ment whereby/ an unfortunate woman ! will craft her . soul c.-.y? out for next ito nothing a week. Appended we ' publish a document whi«h- covers

ice Must Move la.

this agreement", and which' appears to have been written by somebody who is able to spell : — "•I, T. W. Watson, of 27 Boulcott Street, Waverley House, Wellinjgton, N.Z., agree to take Mrs E. B. Mason at 10 per cent, on money (received on house boarders, Mrs Mason to manage the house for the same till the 10th October, 1907, when a settlement m full will be made. « ~ T. W. Watson. Witness, 8.. Rogers, Signed by Ethel B. Mason. August 10, 1907. As there were only four or five lodgers at 5s and 6s a week for rooms, Mrs Mason's remuneration for the first week she spent there was 2s Gd, and she has not even received that. In addition she had paid 6s for a room m the house for that week. Of course, she soon discovered what sort of a place it was, and her hopes of making a fortune dwindled into nothingness. She also discovered that Watson had no lease of the 'house, that he was a weekly tenant, that the biinld'i-ng was actually for sale, and on the representations of Watson she was about to pay £200 for a board-ing-house, out of which she was liaibfe to be, thrown by the landlord at any moment. The owner of the edifice m J. Crompton, a joiner m Boulcottstreet, to whom Watson pays £2 a week, and if he meets women like Mrs Mason and Mrs Hurley occasionally he is able to doit "on his head," to fall into the vuljgar vernacular. Moreover, the house is m an awful condition, and might, with propriety, receive a visit from the Inspector of Nuisances. Under two rooms m the ground floor are CESSPOOLS FORMED OF BATH WATER, which does not get away very rapidly, and whiob, under stress of much use, forces its way up into a couple of the bedrooms on the ground floor. The goodwill o-f the place is worth nothing, and £40 would easily buy the furndt.ure. It did not take the lady lone; to find out the true position, and realising that she had been duped, she went to Watson and demanded the return of her £20. Faced with the certainty of heavy loss, she offered to make a sacrifice, and asked him to give her £15 of her hardearned cash, but the retired fishspoiJer merely, abused her and told her the £20 had gone m his swmgs, the said ornamental boxes being contrivances for catching the niirobie sixpence of the slow-witted public that one sees at sports meetings and th-a like. Watson 1 varies his occupations with this sort of thing. The only recourse left appears to be Court proceedings to make the shark disgorge, and we recommend Mrs Mason "to see a solicitor, with that object. Watson's sweating tactics are a by-word amongst the servants of the eitiy. He is now employing a domestic who is paid Is for every boarder, or lodger. •She is averaging from 3s to 4s per week, and hopes to purchase a motor car, A COUNTRY SEAT, a private yacht, and sundries,- with her earnings m a very short space of time. "Truth" has heard of another woman who cooked m the establishment for three months without seeing t/ho color of'aidoin, amd this paper would like to hear from her. We have also heard of other things to the discredit of work-dodging Watson, and the columns of the paper are open for the publication of authentic cases.