SHALLOW PROOF

NZ Truth, Issue 1220, 18 April 1929, Page 4

SHALLOW PROOF

Wife's Scheme To Bluff Her Landlord ■BYvflj^SED MAIL (From "N.Z.- Truth. 's". Special Christchurch. Representative). Afraid to tell her husband that she had lost £3 from her allowance which,, from weeit to week, was strained to meet the requirements of her large household, Amy Donovan, a married woman, of Christchurch, devised an ingenious scheme to defeat the almost thief -proof registered letter mail. •

THE. only proof she required to show i that her -weekly letter containing tlie rent had been posted was the receipt issued at. the post office when, the letter was posted. It was an easy matter fqr her to post registered letters, containing no money whatever, to bogus addressees, as they would eventually be returned to : her through the dead letter office. With her husband and six children, Mrs. Donovan lived m a house m Packe Street, St. Albans, owned by William Taylor Langley, a retired storekeeper. In 1928 the rent was reduced from 30 shillings 10,28 shillings a week. At the beginning of the year the 'landlord went to ' Timaru for a holiday, leaving an instruction for Mrs. Donovan to post the rent to him weekly by registered mail. He was away for five weeks, and received only three weeks', rent, the letters which should have been posted on January 5 and January 19 having gone astray. When he returned to Christchurch and called on Mrs. Donovan, she protested that she had posted the rent each week and produced the registered letter receipts and . the butts for the postal notes bearing similar dates. •••; Inquiries at the post office led to .' ytj i r 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 ) illjiji rll r ) 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 ri r f 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 _11riijiri ?_i j m 1 1 1 1 m 1 1 . 1 1 1 1 1

Mrs. Donovan being interviewed an. it was found that the letter on Januar. 5 had been addressed to Mr. Smith Post Office, Amberly, and contained n< money, while the other, posted oi January 19, had been addressed to th< Rev. J. J. Seymour, Whangarei. In her statement to the police, tin woman stated that she had lost the £ i and, being afraid to tell her husband endeavored to mislead him into think ing she was keeping up the payment! for the rent, whereas she used th< money to buy meat, bread and buns foi her children.. She said she intended to tell the truth to the landlord the first time he called after returning from Timaru, but he adopted a hostile attitude towards her ' and bullied her for being m arrears with the rent. The woman pleaded guilty to t>v< charges of . fraudulently stating tha she had posted, a postal packet, anc was committed to the Supreme Cour for sentence. She was extremely distressed while Mr. E. S. Bowie pleaded with th< magistrate for bail owing to th< woman having twin babies twelv* months old to care for. As she was not m a position to fine a bondsman, she was granted bail a: provided for under section 16 of th( Offenders' Probation Act, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifiiiJiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiini