“THE EASY WAY”

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9981, 11 July 1925, Page 3

“THE EASY WAY”

GASH FOR BAD CHEQUES BUSINESS MEN AND MAGISTRATE. During the hearing of a charge of false pretences at the Magistrate’s Court, at Dunedin, in which the evidence disclosed that an old man had obtained two sums of money and a suit of clothes by means of valueless cheques from a tradesman and a publican, the Magistrate,- Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., commented on the surprising ease with which anyone without a banking account could write out a cheque and get it cashed.

Chief-Detective Lewis said that the accused had also been passing valueless cheques at Timaru and Christchurch, and had gjpne right on to Wanganui by- this means. When h© ran out of cash he simply wrote out a cheque for £lO and got it cashed evidently without difficulty. The Magistrate: People seem to be as credulous elsewhere as they are here. It was surprising, he added, that people went in for other* forms of crime when it was so easy to obtain large sums by valueless cheques. It was time business men tightened up a little, though they had been warned time after time. The Chief-Detective said that something should be done particularly in view of the fact that the city would be full of Exhibition visitor's in a few months. Accused had adopted no special method, but just wrote .out a cheque whenever he wanted more money.

A “Star” representative, who later interviewed the accountant of a leading drapery establishment, was told that it was a trade practice to take cheques, and that there was a certain amount of risk in doing so. He stressed the ftact that there would practically be no business done at all if they only accepted cheques fjom those known to the management to have banking accounts. Another business man said: “It is very easy to make statements about careless business people, but the fact is, if we turned down cheques, we would lose a great percentage of our business. It is very hard to discriminate and you might as well close up if you are going to refuse to take cheques. It is a bit of a gamble but you have got to do it.”