EASY MONEY

NZ Truth, Issue 1202, 13 December 1928, Page 9

EASY MONEY

May Mean Hard AGENT'S^ CRASH (From "N.Z. Truth's 1 ' Wellington Rep.) There are no royal roads to learning, nor are there any to wealth — unless one happens to be fortunate enough" to draw a bumper prize m Tatt.'s or an art union. James David Martin Mclntyre, a well-known land agent of Wellington/ tried a short cut to amass wealth, but the quick route he set out upon wasn't consistent with the ethics of his fellow-men. TN handling sums entrusted to him as ■*■ deposits for houses he sold, Mclntyre saw the way to some easy money, but if he anticipated carrying 1 on a "help yourself" policy for any length of time, he was sadly mistaken. In the course of a very short time he had appropriated to his own use nine different sums of trust money which had passed into his care as the result of property transactions. But that was as far as he got. In consequence of complaints received from the Internal Affairs Department regarding the non-payment of a deposit, Detective-sergeant Holmes called on Mclntyre for a little, explanation. The latter was shy and, refused to talk, but, following another complaint, the detective obtained a search warrant and took possession of all Mclntyre's books relating to the trust account. These were handed over to Arthur James Petherick, a public acco anl.-i.nt, for examination. Then the fat was m the fire with a vengeance. The defalcations were soon discovered and Mclntyre was arrested. He appeared before S.M. Page m the Wellington Police Court and pleaded guilty to fraudulently con-, verting £364 to his own use. There were nine charges m all. Lawyer M. A. Maude watched the proceedings on his behalf. During the course of evidence, Petherick, the accountant who had examined the books, stated' that Mclntyre had three separate accounts with the Bank of New South Wales — business, private and trust accounts. The trust account on October 12 had a balance of 9/3, the private account held 2/2, and the business account threepence. There was £ 364 short m the trust account. In his statement to the police, Mclntyre admitted his offences and said that he had no assets ,of any kind. Magistrate Page committed him. to the Supreme Court for sentence.