THE WRONG MR WELLS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2137, 1 May 1914, Page 8

THE WRONG MR WELLS.

A CHEQUE—AND COMPLICATIONS. (By Talesrrai.h.—l'rcss Associations Auckland, April 30. An extraordinary'combination of circumstances led to the appearance in the Police Court to-day of Frederick Wells, a young sheepfanncr, and the cyclo champion of Now Zealand, on a charge of stealing a. cheque.for £8. It appears that in January last Mr. Jackson, a solicitor, of .Waihi, sent this cheque to'Fraiicis Wells, at Ponsonby Post Office, together with a letter oxplaining the nature of the payment. Hβ made the cheque payable and addressed the letter to "JF. Wells," but the cheque disappeared. Fred Wells in January was competing in the Exhibition sports carnival, and sent urgently to his brother, a partner in a sheep station, for a cheque, to bo sent to the Ponsonby Post Office. At the' latter place an envelopo containing' a cheque was given him. . He only noticed that the cheque was on the National Bank, which was Ilia brother's bank, and that it was signed by a lawyer, and went off to cash it. The letter, which he put into his pocket to read some other time, lie soon afterwards lost; When ho returned homo ho discovered that his brother had declined to send the monoy, but as ho did not know from whom the letter came, he decided to wait for something to turn ; up. ' This carao in the shapo of a policeman with a warrant for his arrest. It was further, stated in . evi-dence-that accused was worth £2000 or £3000.

Accused's counsel pleaded tnat accused gave more time to developing his body than his mental powers, and not being an expert in clerical matters could quite easily have made the mistakes described ' , .

Tlio Magistrate was satisfied with the explanation, and accused, agreeing to pay tho costs of tho 'prosecution, v/as discharged from custody.'