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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1430, 17 September 1872, Page 2

A remarkable fraud lias just beendetected by the police of New York, Messrs Phelps, Dodge, & Co,, metal merchants, in a large vay of business, had for some lime past found that their best laid schemes were frustrated by means which the keenest commercial sacgoity failed to detect. In foreign markets, where they employed a small army of experienced agents, an I availed themselves of the most rapid communication, they were constantly being forestalled by other firms who overbid or undersold them, and the mystery was Inc* eased by the fact that their private affairs were the subject ol common conversation. At length it was discovered that after business hours a broker named Nelson was admitted into the premises by the warehouse keeper, and having got possession of a duplicate key to a safe containing private telegrams and confidential correspondence, was in the habit of copying those documents and then re-depositing them in the place of custody. His guilt was conclusively proved, not only by the confession of the faithless janitor, but by the fact that he was arrested with copies of private letters and telegrams received by the firm the same day. It seems, too, that he was not above appropriating trifles, inasmuch as a silk umbrella purchased by Mr Dodge the previous day was found concealed in the leg of his trousers, while'beneath bis vest he had stowed away a quantity of stationery. Other persons are of course implicated in these nefarious practices, and it was expected that further arrests would be made. A London telegram, of date August 1, states that six war ships have been appointed to the Australian station, be sides vessels for the New Zealand coast. Similar precautionary measures are being taken in regard \o Fiji. The Melbourne wharves yield a revenue of from £BO,OOO to £9,000 per annum.