EX-ACCOUNTANT'S FRAUDS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1507, 1 August 1912, Page 4

EX-ACCOUNTANT'S FRAUDS.

GIVES HIMSELF UP TO POLICE. (By TelenrapU-Press Association.! Auckland, .Tuly 81. Oscar Middleton ITawson, an accountant at llawera some live or six month* ago, sel out mi a tour to obtain lunacy by taking advantage of tho average carelessness of business people ill tiie mal'lvr of cashing cheques. Jlis sole stock-in-trade consisted of a cheque-book of I In; Hank of Xew Zealand at llawera, anil tin; necessary pen. Any account with tin; bank il.--i'lf was considered not needful. ]I is system was tin; simple one of writing in the cheques for various amounts, signing . tliem, anil inducing various business - people lo give liini money in return. By this means, within live or six months (be--1 (ween (lisborne aii'l Auckland) lie. . obf tained, as Hie result 01' issuing nine valueless cheques, the equivalent in casli and 1 kind of J:52 JO.-. lie started in Auckland on April 3, where he obtained from a salesman ill > Stone Brothers' boot-shop, a sum of ,£"> Is. JJuring the sam» month he obtained .i'lll from'.iohn (iraliam, tlß'ii hotelkeeper at J'ukckohe. In May he got Jjli from \Yilliain Paisley, of Hastings, .£8 from Samuel Carll, of Uisborne, and ,L'"i from Louis Annitage, at .ilai'gaville. His operations c in .Tune resulted in 'Frank E. Wilson, e of Hamilton, being defrauded of .Cl 5, and " Michael J'. Welsh, at Taurangn, of A's. ? Then the guileful manipulator of ' cheques became attacked by compunctions of conscience, and ceased business. - The qualms eventually became so troublc- - some that ho went to the police, gave himf self up, and confessed. He came before Jli. E. C. Cotton, S.M., this morning, pleaded guilty to his misdeeds, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. s Mawson is a middle-aged man, who, at one time, was an instructor in tho \Ya- .■ nganui Technical College.