PROBATION GRANTED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20668, 5 March 1937, Page 16

PROBATION GRANTED

MONEY OBTAINED BY FRAUD Probation was extended by Mr H. Morgan. S.M., in the Timaru Magistrate’s Court, yesterday, to Thomas Outram. alias T. Taylor, who pleaded guilty to a charge of having, with intent to defraud, by means of a false pretence, obtained 14/6 from the Employment Promotion Fund. “The most unsavoury feature of this case was the duplicity of the defendant.” said the Employment Officer (Mr E. C. J. Foot). Outram, he said, adopted the alias, T. Taylor, and worked and was paid under that name by a Timaru firm. The case was serious as had the defendant been more expert in his handwriting, the fraud might not have been detected. Defendant had asked him to say on his behalf, continued Mr Foot, that he was a bundle of nerves and had been conscience stricken ever since he had committed the offence. Outram had been torpedoed in the Mediterranean during the war. He had a family of six under 16 and had been unable to secure very much outside work. As Probation Officer he knew nothing derogatory against the man. “Can you offer any suggestion?” asked the Magistrate. Mr Foot: It would be in the best interest of the family if probation were extended. The Magistrate considered that the case was m-’re serious because the defendant adopted an alias. If Outram had not been found out it was impossible to say to what extent he might have defrauded the Department. “I hope it will be a lesson to you and others not to adopt this method of fraud,” said the Magistrate, who in placing the defendant on probetion for six months and ordering him to refund 14/6, considered that Outram was fortunate that he did not suffer a heavy fine or a term of imprisonment. He had taken into consideration that it was the defendant's first offence.