AUSTRALIAN FLOUR SWINDLE.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14546, 26 October 1917, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN FLOUR SWINDLE.

NON-EXISTENT CARGO.

FORGED BILLS OF LADING.

Sydney, Oct. 25. Advices from London state that a sensation has been caused in commercial circles by the discovery of a big flour swindle in Australia. It appears that a syndicate opened negotiations with a reputable Capetown firm for the disposal of a cargo of flour of the value of £35,000. The transaction was completed. Cash, was paid against bills of lading which were duly presented, and the buyers were drawn upon, a large proportion being negotiated in Australia. It was afterwards discovered that the cargo did not exist and that the bills of lading were clever forgeries..

; As a sequel Bruce Bridekirk (described as the manager and proprietor of a general agency and trading company) and Ferdinand Henz, master ■ mariner, have been arrested at Sydney and remanded on charges of conspiracy to defraud the London Bank of Australia of large sums by means of alleged false bills of lading which represented that they had shipped goods to South 'Africa through the Atlas Shipping Company, the latter company being non-existent. I . I