FORGED NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 18 February 1932, Page 5

FORGED NOTES

CIRCULATOR SENTENCED

THREE YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT..

(By - Telegraph-r-Pe. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, February 17

Tile seriousness of the crime of circulating forged bank notes was emphasised by Air Justice Herdman, when sentencing Harry. Dawson in the Supreme Court. Dawson had pleaded guilty to charges of uttering six Bank of N.S.W. £1 notes, and of having 475 of them in his possession. . ,

Counsel said Dawson was a married; man, with four young children. He lost his position when a company thac was employing him went into liquidation. He was doing relief work, and during this time, he found a tin containing a number of bank notes. He thought that, if lie brought this under notice of police, he might get. into trouble, so he took the notes home.

He became completely out of workarid he succumbled to temptation, and circulated about ten of the notes.

The Crown said that the passing of spurious notes was a serious matter,' but there was nothing to indicate that Dawson was in any way a party to the original forging of them. He might have known of it, but there was nothing to link him .up with the forgerV. How lie became possessed of the notes was Hot known. His Honour said that 1m had looked through tlie depositions, and lie agreed with counsel ior the Crown that thorn appeared to lie nothing in them th%t showed that Dawson was actually a party t» the manufacture of the notes. Nevertheless, he knew that they were forged, and on several occasions ho circulated them. ' A serious feature was that he was found' in possession of a large num. ev.‘ • The ok trihut jo a of these bank non -- ain-mg iiu> public is a matter that I regard a, a veiy grave offence indeed, and 1 am bound to mete out punishment that will warn those who contemplate a practice of this kind that the consequences are serious,” said His Honour. Dawson was sentenced to he detained for reformative purposse for a period not exceeding three years.