FALSE RETURNS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20514, 4 September 1936, Page 11

FALSE RETURNS

SUSTENANCE MAN’S LAPSE GOVERNMENT TAKEN DOWN Stated by the certifying officer (Mr E. C. J. Foot) to have obtained relief payments amounting to £9/1/6 since March by false declarations, Robert Chambers Bellam, in the Timaru Magistrate’s Court yesterday, was convicted and admitted to probation for a period of twelve months. Bellam was charged that on July 27, by falsely representing in a statutory declaration that his earnings for the week ended July 25 were only 12/-, he obtained from the Employment Promotion Fund the sum of £l/7/3 in excess of the amount to which he was legally entitled. He pleaded guilty. Mr Foot said that Bellam had declared that his wages for the week were only 12/1, whereas he had received two amounts of £l/4/2 from the same source. A man of his classification was entitled to receive a maximum of £3/10/- a week, but defendant had drawn £4/17/4 as a result of the declaration. Defendant’s explanation was that he found it hard to get along on what he was allowed to earn. Mr Foot said it was not an isolated case, there being 14 similar Instances in which defendant since March had been paid a total of £9/1/6 more than he was entitled to receive. He had been warned on a previous occasion and had had to repay £2. Taking Government Down Describing the offence as a deliberate attempt to take down the Government, which was trying to help men in defendant’s position, the Magistrate (Mr C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M.), said Bellam was liable to a term of imprisonment as on an ordinary charge of obtaining money under false pretences. It was the first case he had had to deal with under the Act, and he did not propose to send Bellam to prison, although he deserved it, but with any future offenders he would not be so lenient. “I will make a suspended sentence and provision that you will give back your illgotten gains,” he said. Mr Foot intimated that defendant was receiving two days’ work in addition to sustenance. The Magistrate: The Government gives him money to pay back what hs has already taken from them. It is a unique position. Bellam was admitted to probation for twelve months and an order was made for the £9/1/6 to be repaid at the rate of 4/- a week, the first payment to be made on September 10. "That will keep the matter regularly before you for about twelve months,” remarked the Magistrate, who made it perfectly clear that any future offence would be met with a term of imprisonment. “Smart Alec” Heavily Fined John Patrick Burgess, described as a “Smart Alec," who boasted that no policeman would ever catch him, Was fined a total of £5 on charge of defaulting in his payments of the Unemployment levy and failing to register for Unemployment taxation on reaching the age of 20. Mr Foot, representing the Commissioner of Taxes, said defendant was 20 years of age in 1934 and, while he had not been able to ascertain the amount of the levies owing, he knew that defendant had not registered and that he had made no payments. In a statement made to a constable, Burgess had boasted that no policeman would ever catch him, the officer describing him as a "smart Alec.” Mr Foot added that he had heard defendant boasting that he had never paid any levies. “He was trained at Flock House and should have known his responsibilities. The country has provided part of his education.” Burgess was fined £2, costs 12/-, and £3, costs 12/-, on each of the charges. “A Loafer” Claiming that defendant was wellknown in the Cave district as a loafer, Mr Foot proceeded against John Joseph Mulhane for defaulting in his levy payments. Mr Foot said the case would not have been brought had defendant not ignored the Department’s correspondence. He had written to defendant several times in the matter, and it was possible he had a claim for exemption, but none of the letters had been answered. Mulhane had paid no instalments since August, 1934. A fine of £3 and costs 12/- was imposed.