EASY PICKINGS FOR CRADDOCK

NZ Truth, Issue 1239, 29 August 1929, Page 3

EASY PICKINGS FOR CRADDOCK

Business Was Bad, but He Lost No Time In Raising Cash

LAND AGENT OVERSTEPPED THE MARK

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative.) When a man can expand his banking acount from half-a-crown credit to a balance of £885/2/6 m a day it could hardly be said that his business was m a parlous condition. Yet such was the plea put forward by Alfred Ernest Craddock, land and estate agent of Christchurch, when he was accosted on board the "Ulimaroa" at Auckland some months ago.

CRADDOCK pleaded that things were] so bad m the real estate business m Christchurch that he had decided to go to Sydney to seek .fresh fields and pastures new. The state of his banking account took some explaining, especially m view of the fact that one of his clients had suspicions regarding an amount of £885 which he had paid to Ci-addock a day or so -before the latter left Christchurch. Craddock, who some years ago, was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for. three years for misappropriation of a client's money, ,. was brought back to .Christchurch where he was called on to face a charge of fraudulently omitting to account for £889 from Alfred Ernest Baxter to Wallace and Sons,, and on a further count of stealing' £885 of the money of Alfred Ernest Baxter. In March, 1928, Craddock entered into partnership with a man named Wallace m a land and estate agency m Christchurch. In April, 1929, Craddock effected a sale of the house property from Donata

Dalmiano, \ steward m the Pioneer Club, to Baxter, a manufacturing chemist. Baxter paid £100 deposit and the balance o£ £SBS was to be paid m cash at the end of a month. AVhen the amount was coming due, Dalmiano inquired if the balance had been paid, but Craddock kept postponing the date. Then on May 4, he left Christchurch and his partner received a message from North Canterbury, stating that he had left town to complete a deal. The next day a telegram was received from Craddock from Waiau stating that he had had to go further to complete his transaction. Suspicions which were aroused ih Wallace's -mind were more or less confirmed when he found Craddock's pass book showing that his account had been increased from a credit of half-a-crown to one of £885 2s 6d the day before he left Christchurch. The next Wallace heard from Craddock was - a letter from the North Island stating that he had had "another of those lapses" and had found himself aboard the collier "Komana" travelling between Westport and Wellington. He enclosed a blank cheque asking Wallace to fill it m for the full amount

of his credit at the bank to satisfy the claim of Dalmiano. This, however, only amounted to £709, leaving a deficiency of over | £175. , ! Craddock had stated m his letter that he had no idea how he got on the boat, where he had come from nor where he was going. He promised to come back to Christchurch and fix everything up, but he did not. - He was. subsequently arrested aboard the "Ulimaroa" at Auckland shortly before it was due to' sail for Sydney. When Craddock appeared for trial, Mr A. T. Donnelly, Crown Prosecutor, submitted that though all the money had since been refunded, Craddock had stolen the whole amount since he paid, it into his own account and then decamped. Evidence was given by the principal of the firm of Wallace* and Sons on the lines of the Crown Prosecutor's opening address. Mr. C. S. Thomas, 'who appeared for Craddock, did not call evidence, and m his address to the jury stated that Craddock had originally paid m £84 j

into the business. He had earned over £'300 m commissions, half of which were his own, and had received only £4fl. Counsel said that Craddock estimated his interest m the firm to amount to £185, and as Wallace had not submitted a statement of accounts Craddock had devised this foolish scheme to get even. "If he were a common, ordinary thief," submitted counsel, "why did he not bolt with the lot instead of returning all except the money he was justly entitled to?" Mr. Justice Adams made no secret of what he thought of counsel's plea on Craddock's behalf. "I admire the courage of counsel, to put it to the jury m such a manner," he said, "but business will, reach a perilous state if agents are to dip into their clients' pockets for what they cannot get from their .agencies. "It strikes at the foundation of honesty and opens the way for serious and systematic fraud." The jury found Craddock guilty with a strong recommendation on account of his age and ill-health. Two years' reformative detention was the penalty fixed by the judge.