SPENDTHRIFT’S FALL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19485, 9 May 1933, Page 12

SPENDTHRIFT’S FALL

SQUANDERED £4OOO. SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS. (Special to “The Herald.”) CHRISTCHURCH, May 8. A story of legacies frittered away on racehorses, of moneylenders, and a final indiscretion was told in the Supreme Court at Christchurch this morning, when Ellwood Cuthbertson was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on each of twelve charges of obtaining money and goods by false pretence, the sentences to be concurrent. “It may do him good, but I doubt it,” said His Honour. Mr Young. who appeared for prisoner, said that though Cuthbertson was only 23 years of age, he had had a peculiar career, which led up in some measure to the offences to which he had pleaded guilty. Cuthbertson was the son of a man prominent in Timaru. He was educated at the Timaru Boys’ High School. For two years he had worked for a grain and seed company, and then his health failed and he spent a few years in the country. “In 1924,” said Mr Young, “Cuthbertson’s mother died and left him £4OOO. He only had to ask his father for a cheque to get £SO or £IOO. He frequented stables and race meetings, and was an easy prey to a certain type of person. The £4OOO vanished. Then he got into the hands of a moneylending corporation. Instead of inheriting a modest fortune from his father, the money was all gone, and he was heavily in debt. He had spent £2OOO on racehorses, and had dealings with six or seven trainers before he was twenty years of age,” said counsel. “He married a young girl, and they have a child aged four months. He has previous convictions, but they are for irresponsible affairs, and this was the first real case of dishonesty. When he committed these offences he was depending on the assistance of a man whom he himself had helped in more prosperous times. If the Court could see its way to grant probation—” “We will not discuss that.” said His Honour. “This is not a case for probation.” Mr Donnelly, Crown Prosecutor, said that there was nothing to be said in prisoner’s favour. He had used his wife in the commission of the offences, and as a result she had been charged also. “He is a young w T aster who needs a lesson,” said the Judge. “The Probation Officer's report is unfavourable.” Cuthbertson was later charged in the Magistrate's Court before Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., with obtaining goods and £2 in money by means of valueless cheques, and was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment on each charge.