GUILTY OF FORGERY
LENGTHY GARDEN CASE , CONCLUDED Rec. 10 p.m. SYDNEY, May 21. Found guilty of forging the name of H. G. Forshaw, logging manager of Hancock and Gore, timber merchants, in a letter to the Minister of External Territories, Mr E. J. Ward, John Smith Garden, 65, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour. “The gigantic fraud of the New Guinea timber deal shows the danger of Ministers dealing with official matters through people outside their departments,” said Mr Justice Stacy, summing up. “Is not the only conclusion you can draw that in making this false document the accused knew it would be used as genuine and would have some effect on some person? “ This case is the King against Garden. Remember that all the time. It is clear that Hancock and Gore have been robbed of £50.000. This gigantic fraud started in 1944 and was not shown up till 1947.”
Garden in evidence stated earlier in the hearing that Mr Ward was a member of the syndicate which purported to sell a New Guinea timber lease to a Brisbane firm. Garden added that the dummv for Ward was his son Harcourt Garden and that Ward was to get 20 per cent, of an amount between £75,000 and £IOO.OO which the firm was prepared to pay for the concession.
Garden had pleaded not guilty to two charges of forging and one of falsifying documents.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19480522.2.106
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 26778, 22 May 1948, Page 7
Word Count
237GUILTY OF FORGERY Otago Daily Times, Issue 26778, 22 May 1948, Page 7
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in