FORGERY AND UTTERING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18662, 23 March 1935, Page 4

FORGERY AND UTTERING

EIGHT CHARGES ADMITTED CHILDREN'S COURT CASE SUM OF £3l INVOLVED Kight charges of forgery and uttering involving a'total sum of £3l 0s 6d were admitted bv a boy of 16 w)io appeared before. Mr. K. L.* Walton, S.M., in the Child Welfare. Court this- morning. After hearing the circumstances, the magistrate ordered the boy to come up for sentence if called upon within two years on one. charge, and placed him under the care of the child welfare officer on the other seven. Mr. Walton remarked that he was surprised that the bank should have cashed the cheques, as the forged signature bore no resemblance to the origuial. Senior-Sergeant Wade explained that the accused had been employed as a cowboy in, a country district, and his employer had recently complained to the police that the boy had stolen several cheque forms from his cheque-book, and had tilled them in and cashed them. Altogether 10 forms had been stolen, but only eight had been located so far. The cheques had beeu cashed in four different shops, and in one or. two places in the country, the accused purchasing various articles, and receiving the change,' if any, in cash. Interviewed by the police, the boy had admitted forging and uttering the cheques, but could not remeiriber to whom he had issued the other two, and thought that he might have lost them.

The accused was now out of work, continued the senior-sergeant, and his mother was in receipt of the widow's pension. Tho police had recovered a quantity of the goods which the boy had purchased, including a bicycle. After examining the cheques, the magistrate remarked that he .was surprised that the bank should have cashed thorn, as the signatures were totally unlike that of the boy's employer, la reply to a question by the magistrate, the accused stated that he had found 7s 6d a week insufficient to keep him, and had stolen the cheques. The magistrate: Did you think that was a right thing to do? Is that your idea of what you are entitled to do v The. accused : I wasn't supposed to do it. The magistrate: Prom your attitude it appears that you might do it again. Is that your idea ? The accused: No. After conferring with the child welfare officer, the magistrate ordered the boy to come up for sentence if called upon within two years on one charge so that there might be a greater hold over him, and placed him under.the care of the child welfare officer for two years on tho other seven charges. The accused was further ordered to return the articles purchased to the .persons concerned, and to pay £5 from time to time out of his wages to make good the depreciation in value of the goods. The magistrate warned the boy of the consequences of any future lapse.