REFUSAL OF BAIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 225, 23 September 1929, Page 7

REFUSAL OF BAIL.

Alleged Deposit Of Worthless Securities. FINANCIAL SENSATION. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) LONDON, September 22. At the Guildhall Court yesterday morning Clarence Charles Hatry, Edmund Daniels, John G. Dixon and A. E. Tabor, directors of various Hatry companies, who were concerned in the big financial sensation, were remanded till Friday. Bail was refused. The Public Prosecutor said that in July defendants obtained from George Ireland Russell, acting on behalf of the Porchestcr Trust, Limited, a sum of £209,141 on the deposit of certain securities, which, while purporting to be £150,000 worth of Wakefield Corporation 4} per cent stock, were absolutely fictitious and worthless. The Wakefield Corporation's stock was issued by Corporation and General Securities, Limited. The money auvanced was used in the companies known as the Hatry group. Defendants on Friday had made a joint statement to the Public Prosecutor admitting the above facts. Continuing, the Public Prosecutor said: ''Information in our hands shows undoubtedly that other charges of a serious nature will be made." A detective stated that Hatry, Daniels and Tabor had passports in their possession. The magistrate, Sir George Truscott, said he appreciated defendants' commendable attitude, but in view of the seriousness of the issues involved he felt it was his duty, to decline to grant bail.

There was a great crowd of stockbrokers and others outside the Court. A wild rush ensued as the defendants were drawn up in a taxieab. Only 30 persons were admitted to the Court, where Mrs. Hatry sat in tears with a woman friend.

The newspapers describe the suspension of dealings in the Hatry Companies' shares as one of the greatest financial sensations of recent years. It is reported that in their endeavours to prevent the slump Hatry and the others interested in the companies concerned tried to obtain the support of large financial groups and also approached financiers in America, Germany and France. Big Slump in Shares. The newspapers on Friday drew attention to the slump 411 the shares of the Hatry group, with which the Corporation and General Securities, Limited, is associated. The corporation last week sponsored the Melbourne Harbour Trust's issue. The unusual step taken by the Stock Exchange Committee to investigate the affairs of the Hatry group of five companies indicated the serious view taken by the authorities.

It is the first time such a step has been taken since the emergency regulations at the outbreak of the war. Business on many sections of the Exchange practically ceased. Groups of members eagerly discussed the position/

It is estimated that the total market value of the five Hatry companies dropped £8,000,000 compared with the highest prices of the present year". The committee's action is generally approved as it will prevent the shareholders in the companies selling at prices which may prove unjustifiably low after a full investigation has been made.

The town clerk of Wakefield says Corporation and General Securities, Limited, raised on its behalf £750,000, of which the borough obtained £425,000, so that £325,000 is still owing to it. "We do not know whether we shall lose that amount," says the official, "but whatever the loss it will have to be borne by the ratepayers."

Mr. Clarence Hatry is one of the younger generation of financiers, who has played a conspicuous part in London during the post-war period. After_ leaving school he travelled on the Continent, learning French and German. On his return he started as an insurance broker on his own account. He was remarkably successful, and in the boom period which followed the coming of peace he floated a good many industrial companies. To help extricate them from the difficulties into which they were plimged when the slump came, he put all his private fortune of between £1,500,000 and £2,000,000 into them, with the result that he almost ruined himself.- Since that time he has oeen working quietly, and has competed for, and obtained through Corporation General Securities, Ltd., practically the whole of the finance for London and municipal authorities requirements which run into millions. Mr. Hatry also conceived and created the Drapery Trust, Ltd., which comprises over 60 of the largest stores in London and the country, of which the Marquis of Winchester is chairman.