SWINDELL QUESTIONED

Taranaki Daily News, 28 July 1932, Page 5

SWINDELL QUESTIONED

MECHANICAL HARE SCANDAL ‘DOUBLE CROSSING’ ALLEGED 1 1 EVIDENCE OF DIRECTOR DIVISION OF £5OOO CHEQUE By Telegraph—Pres* Assn.-—Copyright. Rec. 9.25 p.m. Sydney, July 27. Frederick Swindell was further, examined when the inquiry into the charges arising from the reintroduction of tin hare racing was continued today. Swindell was asked the reason for splitting a £5OOO cheque into smaller cheques. He replied, that it was done to make five transactions, reducing the rate of taxation. Mr. Monaghan, who is assisting the commission: Was it not to defraud, the Tax Commissioner?—No. The (Royal Commissioner (Judge Haise Rogers): Wasn’t the whole thing a fraud and fake?—No. The Commissioner: Then it’s a matter of your standards. Swindell: The cheques were made out in others’ names; I got no profit. The Commissioner: You got £5OOO for the scrip, for which you paid nothing? Swindell: Yes, but it was only & small profit.

The Commissioner: That’s a matter for the Tax Commissioner.

Swindell denied a portion of Felix Booth’s evidence that if a certain company was formed £7500 would, be paid if it secured a permit to hold coursing. Michael Gleeson, a director of the Australian Coursing Club, explaining his dealings with Swindell and the anxiety of the various clubs to get licenses when mechanical coursing was restored, declared that Swindell had, he believed, “double-crossed us.” The Commissioner: That word doublecrossed apparently means that both parties were iri a crooked, business and one afterwards -went crooked, on the other. Isn’t that the meaning? Witness: No. After the whole thing was legalised Swindell got our licenses from us; therefore he double-crossed his friends and pals. The Commissioner: I must say Ido not know anything in the English language bo expressive as double-crossed, or anything that corresponds with it. The hearing was adjourned.