MABEL'S MISTAKE

NZ Truth, Issue 1050, 7 January 1926, Page 8

MABEL'S MISTAKE

TEARS IN THE DOCK "Inclined to Gamble a Bit" • • " ■ "i "Truth's" Special -Wellington Rep.) Although it is not infrequent to hear women confess prettily that they have no head for figures, some manage to conduct their af- - fairs with a remarkable shrewdness. Such a one, whose best- laid plans brought her to the stool of repentance m Wellington the other day, was Mabel Thorley Newton. Sobbing quietly m the dock, she admitted having obtained the sum of £24 10s by false pretences. She was neatly dressed, and it was somewhat surprising to hear from the Chief Detective that she was "inclined to gamble a bit." It seems that this young woman, Whose husband . is an engineer on the West Coast, rented a. furnished flat m Wellington, and then conceived the .idea of raising a loan on the' furniture. To this end she went so far us to sign a bogus receipt for it as from one (T. C. Cripps for £65, and on showing this to a money-lender, George Bayley, she secured a loan of £25 iess 10s, and made the same pretence to an insurance inspector when .taking a policy out under the terms of the loan. " "She is really guilty of forgery," said the Chief Detective; "but we have not proceeded with any charge for that. "She is 29: years of age, and her husband allows her £2 10s a week. She has one child, seven years of age." Lawyer' Stevenson said the woman got behind with tradesmen's accounts, and first endeavored to make up the leeway by taking m sewing, but this was insufficient. ."She adopted these, means," counsel added, "to save the shame arid trouble of being summoned for debt." • Magistrate. Page' said he would allow probation, as it was the first time the woman had been before the Court. The period would be for two years. "I will make it a provision ".that, she Is not to go on a racecourse or indulge m any gambling during that period, and the money must be repaid withinthree months."