CHEATING TRADESPEOPLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18311, 12 November 1927, Page 4

CHEATING TRADESPEOPLE.

‘ ' To the Editor. , SUE—Please allow me a small space 1n your valuable paper to ventilate a subject Which is and has been hurtful t 0 rne. It 15 not of myself that lam particularly writing, but principally on behalf of the ordinary shopkeeper or commodity tradesman who, I know. is lSubjeCt to the unscrupulous and false pretender purchaser. I certainly know ‘of people who approach shopkeepers ‘such as tailors. grocers, cycle dealers. land others with in oily mouth and a lPlallSlble tongue, asking for articles such as groceries, boots. clothing and bicycles and have no real intention of paying for same. They tell their tale to the shopkeeper in such a. manner that induces him to swallow the bait and they generally respond, trusting to the indiwdual's honesty, and they must know at the same time that if the person becomes a deiaulter they have but little redress from the Court ‘ unless they can prove (absolutely) their ‘case to the magistrate. And further. :when these people have completed them deal and paid a little off the ac:count they shake their feathers and ;fly to another town to further carry on gtheu' dirty unconscionable business. I {know of one particular case where a person (I can’t call him a man) who HS. and has been. in a good position ‘financxally (or a long time (a trades‘man who makes a study of this class i 0! business). going around the city ‘making purchases and eventually the firm has to chase him and close on him or blister him, and when the finale comes he tells a tale with practically tears in his false eyes, and the busi‘ness man has no other alternative but to take or seize the article because he cannot get blood out of a stone. Sir. probably you will wonder why I am penning these lines. Sufice to say that I have been a sufierer to the tune oi a few pounds; therefore, I would advise all tradespeople to keep a strict eye to business in the future and watch the unscrupulous one—Yours. etc.. A VICTIM.