CONVICTIONS FOR FRAUD

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1933, Page 7

CONVICTIONS FOR FRAUD

INGENIOUS FALSE PRETENCES COOKS TOURS "REPRESENTATIVE.” STRATFORD PEOPLE VICTIMISED. tearoom OWNERS APPROACHED. Ab ingenious attempt to win money from unsuspecting persons by false pretences -was made by a Scot named David Scrogie, a single man aged 40, who had been in New Zealand ten years, at Stratford recently. Representing, himself .as *n agent of Thomas Cook and Sons Ltd., he approached the proprietors of several tearooms and endeavoured to induce them to part with sums of money as a consideration for bringing to their rooms parties .which he alleged he would be conducting through New Zealand. In one case he succeeded. He also operated successfully at Taumarunui. The charges' were that he attempted to defraud Annie M. Keenan of £llss, Ada Cox of £1 17s 6d and Elizabeth Rose Bingham of £1 17s 6d at Stratford on May 11, and that he fraudulently obtained from C. E. Galbraith the sum of £1 17s 6d on the same date. He was also charged with fraudulently obtaining, from Thurza Atkins the sum of 17s 6d at Taumarunui on June 1. Already serving a term of imprisonment for a series of similar offences for which he was later arrested, Scrogie pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on one of the charges, to be concurrent with the term he was serving. On the ether charges he was convicted and discharged. Scrogie, said Detective P. Kearney, paid a visit to Stratford on May 11. He called on Galbraith, the son of the proprietor of the Medina tearooms, and told him he was representing Cooks Tours. He alleged he was preparing to conduct parties through New Zealand and was seeking suitable tearooms at Stratford to which he would be able to take parties. Galbraith paid him £1 17s 6d on the understanding that his tearooms should be used for the entertainment of parties of Cook’s tourists. Calls were also made by Scrogie on Mrs. Keenan, Mrs. Cox and Mrs. Bingham. To them he made the same representations, asking for' £1 15s from Mrs. Keenan and for £1 17s 6d from each of the other two. He was unsuccessful in every case, however. • ' Inquiries were made about Scrogie, and it ■ was found that he had no connection 'with Thomas Cook and Sons Ltd., When he was approached at Pal- ■ merston North and questioned he admitted thia was so. When at Taumarunui on June 1 Scrogie approached Nurse Atkins, to whom he said he was a representative of the Service Advertising Company, which was publishing a booklet for which he wanted advertisements. He asked for £1 17s 6d but he obtained only 17s 6d. Inquiries showed that there was no such firm as. the Service Advertising Company and that Scrogie had no means of printing a booklet Part of the money Scrogie had obtained was spent in living expenses and part in drink, the detective said. At the beginning of this month he was arrested at Palmerston North on eleven charges of false pretences, similar to the present charges and was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment on each charge; the sentences to be cumulative. The magistrate: Have you anything to say? • ■ ■ Scrogie: No, Is fhis. your first term of imprisonment in New Zealand?—Yes. To Mr. Woodward Detective Kearney said he saw no good reason why the present sentence Scrogie was serving should be added to.