BARBER’S SHOP RAID

Otago Witness, Issue 3566, 18 July 1922, Page 26

BARBER’S SHOP RAID

THE SYDNEY SENSATION. SYDNEY, July 13. At the proceedings against a barber and his five assistants on a charge of conspiring to defraud the people of large sums, various witnesses, including plain-clothes police, gave evidence that they were charged from a few shillings to over £3 when they entered the shop for a hair' cut, to which certain head and skin treatment were added at the barber's suggeation, the effectiveness and authenticity of such induced treatment being amongst the issues involved. One policeman testified that his protest against a bill for £3 2s 9d for violet ray treatment and the removal of three hairs, in addition to a hair-cut. resulted in a reduction to 16s 6d, raiding by the police havmg appeared in the meantime. The Government Analyst gave evidence that an analysis disclosed that the oils and creams in the shampoos used at M’Donald s shop were similar to those used by barbers throughout the world. An ex-foreman at McDonald’s shop deposed that the employees were instructed that they must earn a certain amount of clear profit. Anything above that they divided equally with the proprietor. By various alleged ruses, the customers were induced, after a hair-cut, to undergo treatment of the scalp and skin, thereby piling up fancy charges.