CHARGES OF FORGERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 12

CHARGES OF FORGERY.

TRADESMEN'S LOOSE METHODS. WELLINGTON, August 12. The foolish manner in which tradesmen unthinkingly lend themselves to proceed.- j ings which invariably end in charges of forgery was scathingly commented on by Dr M ? Arthur, S.M., in the Police Court to-day. All a person lias to do, he said, is to walk into a shop and ask for a blanks cheque, and the person getting the cheque forges a signature, marches off to the next • shop to buy goods, and gets an amount in ' change far exceeding the cost of his pur- j chafee. In this way one tradesman lends himself to the victimisation of another. His Worehip remarked that he often wondered that the thing was not carried on to a greater extent, considering the opportunities given for offences of the kind to be committed. He did not know whether or not it would be a £ood thing ,

to Tn^>ke the giver of blank cheques responsible for halt the loss occasioned in these illegal transactions, or whether he ought not to be liable to a charge of aiding and abetting. In the particular case before the court the accused (Edward Thomas George Hughes (alias Saule), who pleaded guilty to two charges, was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.