GRANGER'S ARRAIGNMENT.

NZ Truth, Issue 464, 9 May 1914, Page 8

GRANGER'S ARRAIGNMENT.

Bother Between Bookies Becomes Burlesque. Charge of Defaulting Withdrawn. (From "Truth's" Christcliurch Rep.) The Sherlock Holmes Department collected Hugh Grainger m Wellington, and carefully returned him to his native Christchurch. where, on a warrant issued at the instance of one Edgar F. C. Nettie he was charged with that on April 21 at Christchurch. having received the sum of £1050 ill cash from F. c. Neate on terms requiring him to pay the same to certain persons he fraudulently converted it to his own use. and fraudulently I omitted to pay the same, which he i was required to pay as aforesaid. j The arrest caused quite a flutter of j excitement m local sporting circles, ! both Grainger and Neate being partners m one of the best-known Christchurch odds- on* businesses. Popular opinion, therefore, had it that Ne;tte had been prompted m his action by some mysterious desire for a little more of Grainger's presence m Christchurch, and that that desire having I been gratified, the wholc*raatter would ignominously curl up and die, if only for the sake of obviating A BUNCH OF INCRIMINATtONS which would have menaced many people* if the cnae was- threshed out m Court. • •• , - When the matter was initially dished up at the Magistrate's Court, Neate, it appeared, intended to go on with I the game. Grainger was remanded ! for a week on £1000 bail, his counsel, j at the time, planking his foot on the j possibility of any further adjournments. When, on Wednesday last, the case came up for its final flutter, the probabilities of both sides making a tight of it seemed rosy, and a crowded court I upended itself m expectation of cvi- j | dence wiiich would spatter the repu- j tation of certain weevily Wowacra said to be mixed up m the tangle. For some mysterious reason, the bench. was occupied by a pair of J.'sP., under which circumstances it seemed safe to bet that Grainger would be committed to the Supreme Court. lawyers Cassidy and Donnelly, who had previously appeared for -the informant and the accused respectively,, were replaced by imported counsel — Lawyer Hanlon, whom the informant had brought from* Dunedln, and Lawyer T. M. Wilford. of Wellington, who shone on behalf of Granger. 1 The proceedings were surprisingly short and shiny. Grainger was charged, and, after Mr. Wilford had introduced himself, Mr. Hanlon, for the informant, bobbed up with the information that his client had no evidence to offer. Mr. Wilford'B application that the case be Btruck out was granted, and GRAINGER WAS DISCHARGED. Thus ended one of the queerest prosecutions Christchurch has experienced for many moons. Granted that Grainger was indebted to Neate to the extent of £1000, the enormity of Neate utilising the criminal law to the extent which he did for the collection of a civil debt — if that was the idea — cannot be too strongly commented upon. Under Neate's jwocedure, Grainger was unnecessarily subjected to treatment which no code of New Zealand law ' Should countenance and it might reasonably bo asked* why the civil law would not havo just as adequately fulfilled Neate's purpose? Under legitimate circumstances, th^s would have been the obviously proper course to pursue for the collection of a civil debt. But it is more than evident that certain ugly difficulties would present themselves to a man m Neate's position. From the outset he had not the faintest hope of collecting such a debt through the Court, whether he proceeded against Grainger civilly or criminally. Neate and Grainger wore portnors m their particular business, and it is supposed that the £ 1000 ALLEGED TO HAVK BKEN LIFTED ' wero the proceeds of gaming. The Gaming Act specifies that "no action can bo brought or maintained In any Court of Law for any sum of money won by way of gaming or wagering on the result of a hor^ls race." Agreements to the contrary would not bo admitted m a Court of Law, ror tho simple reason that the business Itself is illegal, and any agreement relaxing to such is also illegal. Had tho informant proceeded with his prosecution of Grainger under the crimlnul law, Mr, Wllford's first quo.stion would, m all probability, huvo been as to the nature of Noute's business, und further Interrogations would have extracted tho Information that • the money involved m the action whh ■ Illegal procoedß at which, under any j portion of tho Act quoted, tho buiu-h ( would have had no alternative but to i strike the case out. \ Probably the most accurate reason why the whole matter started was th»» i fact that the Government luia rwoiuly j stopped tho correspond eneo of "J. Derby," who. it In common know|i>dK«% j Ih none other thnn th*» firm of Oruin- I per and N eft to. The Htoppujfo of this J corrw*l»ondonct\ therefore, sounded th« death km»Jl of a firm m which ovt'ry penny counted.