YOUTH’S FOLLY

Southland Times, Issue 20613, 11 October 1928, Page 4

YOUTH’S FOLLY

FORGED ROOM MATE’S NAME. COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE. A youth, 19 years of age, whose name was suppressed in the meantime, appeared at the Police Court yesterday afternoon before Mr G. Cruickshank, S.M. The charge against the accused, who was represented by Mr Gordon Reed, was that on July 30, 1928, at Invercargill he did make a false document, to wit a withdrawal receipt on the Post Office Savings Bank, Invercargill, for the sum of £6 6/-, purporting to be signed G. A. Campbell, knowing the same to be false, and did cause one George Arthur Brandford to act upon it as if it were genuine. Detective-Sergeant Hewitt said that the case could not be dealt with by a Magistrate, but must go to the Supreme Court for sentence. The accused had taken the passbook of a fellow-boarder and had drawn £6 6/- from the Post Office Savings Bank. The Magistrate said that he would like to see the matter dealt with summarily. The amount was small and it seemed a pity to go to the expense of calling a Grand Jury and a common Jury to deal with the case, Gavin Angus Campbell, a cadet in the employ of the New Zealand Railways, said that the accused shared a room with him at their lodgings. Witness had an account at the Post Office Savings Bank, but had not operated it for over 12 months. He discovered that his passbook, which he kept in a drawer in his room, had disappeared about the second week in August, so he went to the post office to inquire about it and was there shown a withdrawal slip for £6 6/with the signature G. A. Campbell. The signature was not his own and no authority had been given for anyone else to operate on his account. .George Arthur Brandford, a cadet in the Invercargill Post Office, said that on the morning of July 30 the withdrawal slip produced was handed to him along with the passbook. Witness was not satisfied with the signature on the slip and asked for a specimen signature, after which he paid out on the slip. The signature was later discovered to be a forgery. Herbert James Le Sueur, detective, said that on October 4 he, in company with De-tective-Sergeant Hewitt, interviewed the accused, who made a statement admitting the offence. In his statement the accused said that, he had thrown the passbook away. The accused pleaded guilty and was committed for sentence at the next session of the Supreme Court at Invercargill. Mr Reed, in asking for the suppression of accused’s name, said that accused had been on half-pay and had lost £4. for which he had advertised without response and this had lead to his lapse. Bail was allowed on accused’s own recognisance, conditional on his reporting daily to the police, the matter to be reconsidered next Wednesday.