DAIRY SUPPLIERS CHARGED.

Wairarapa Age, 7 May 1924, Page 5

DAIRY SUPPLIERS CHARGED.

WITH DEFRAUDING FACTORY GUILTY PLEA UPSET. Palmerston North, May 6. —Before Mr Justice Hosking, true bills were returned in five cases, wherein Henry Simpson was charged with Arthur Melvin Taylor, John Jens Sorens, Thomasen Ott Krcegher, Richard Gairgan, and Alfred Wright, with conspiring to defraud the Cheltenham Dairy Company.

The first case heard was against Simpson and Thomasen, who were charged that they conspired to defraud the company of £B9 18s by means of false cream tests. Simpson pleaded guilty and Thomasen not guilty. Simpson left the dock, and the trial against the second accused was proceeded with.

The Crown Prosecutor said the alleged conspiracy was somewhat unusual. When Simpson was absent from work at the factory owing to illness, the'test went down, but when he returned they immediately went up. The suspicions of the company were aroused, and defendant, with the others involved, attended a meeting of the directors and the offence practically was admitted.

There were no witnesses for the defence, and an extraordinary legal situation arose, when the jury returned with a verdict in the case of Thomasen of “not guilty of conspiracy, but guilty of defrauding the company through Simpson’s neglect.”

The verdict caused some consternation. His Honour confessed he could not understand it. The question was whether the accused Thomasen had conspired with Simpson with intent to defraud.

Tho foreman of the jury finds that there was no agreement between the two men. In that case I shall take the finding as one of not guilty. Docs the jury understand that Simpson has already pleaded guilty to having conspired with Thomasen? The foreman: The juny dealt with the case from Thomason’s point of view and found he had no part in the conspiracy.

The Crown Prosecutor suggested that tho jury be asked to reconsider the verdict, but this was disallowed. His Honour said the best way would bo to discharge.Thomasen and as other charges were pending against him he should be detained till to-morrow.

The Crown Prosecutor said Simpson should be allowed to withdraw his plea and be discharged.

His Honour: But ho will have been arraigned on a criminal charge and discharged without trial or plea. As it required two to form a conspiracy Simpson, according to the jury, was not guilty. Addressing Simpson His Honour said: “You have pleaded guilty of conspiracy. You may have thought you were guilty, but the jury has found there was no conspiracy.”

The Crown Prosecutor searched vainly for a parallel case. Both prisoners were discharged, though Simpson was detained pending other similar charges. —(P.A.) ''