Cheating the Government.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 219, 21 September 1901, Page 1

Cheating the Government.

At Timaru on Tuesday, a farmer was charged with making false declarations under the Lands for Settlement Act on becoming an applicant for a lease-in-perpetuity allotment, the falsity relating to the quantity of land he already held. A two-fold defence was offered —that he did not understand the requirements of the form supplied, and that he had parted with the excess of land. Documents were produced to prove that he had parted with the land to a brother-in-law, but the prosecution, and Judge Denniston, in summing up, indicated to the jury that this sham arrangement was to be carried out if the accused was a successful applicant. He was successful, but the Land Board, learning that he had an excess of land, refused to lease, and he forfeited a deposit of -£4'2, and the jury found him guilty, and recommended him to mercy as ho did not know the serious ness of the offence and had a previous good character. As to the latter, the Judge remarked that many men who will not cheat a neighbor think little of trying to cheat the Government. Ho was fined ;£2O.