Land Agent on Fraud Charges

Chronicle (Levin), 15 November 1949, Page 2

Land Agent on Fraud Charges

WELLINGTON, Nov. 14. The triai of Raymond WilJiam Harland, a land agent, on six charges oi frauduleut conversion of sums amountiug to £2370 began in the Suprenie (Jourt today before the Chief Justice (Sir Humphrey O'Leary). The charges relate to moneys allegedly paid as deposits on properties and which, it is alleged, Harland failed to refund when the deals were not completed. Mr W. H. Ounningham, for the Crown, said there was a statutoij duty on land agents to preserve the deposit moneys in a trust account and those moneys must not be used for any purpose except payinent to proper persons. The sum of £2370 had been paid in by four persons, two of whom made two payments each, and Harland had been unable to pay it back. On Mareh 24 iast he had filed a petition in banlcruptcy when it had been found there was only £71 left in the trust account. The Crown case was that between August 8, 1948, and Oetober 10, 1948, the sum of £2370 had been paid into the trust account, that most of it haa gone by November, 1948, and that by March of this year only £71 was left, said Mr Cunningham who read to the Court a long statement by the accused in which he alleged he had been the ligurehead in the business which had been coriducted by another man, although he (accused) had signed all the cheques. •

Making Trams And Buses Pay Their Way

SYDNEY, Nov. 14. A forecast that Sydney and Newcastle trams and buses would pay their way within a year was made by the Transport Commissioner (Mr. C. Winsot.) Last year the tram and bus se'rvices in Sydney and Newcastle lost £320,000. Eeviewing the results of his first two months in office, Mr. Winsor said this would be brought about by the increased efficiency of running schedules and fare colleetion. a reductoin of dead mileage and improved workshop practice. * . 'He hinted that in his reorganisation of the services he would diseard some senior officers who did not measure up to the standards of hard work and efficiency he had set. Mr. Winsor 's efforts s'o far have embraced speedier colleetion of fares, prosecution of evaders and a recasting of schedules to avoid duplication by trams and- buses. 1 _ / N- ■