Young Australian Forges £5,000 Note

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 216, 1 December 1927, Page 1

Young Australian Forges £5,000 Note

WANTED TO BUY HOTEL COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE Pleading guilty In the Police Court this morning to forging a credit note for £5,749 on the Bank 0 f New South Wales, at Auckland, Richard Thomas Douglas Cook, aged 22, a recent arrival from Australia, was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. rrHE accused also admitted forging -1 a promissory note for £4O, obtaining £5 by means of a valueless cheque and negotiating for the purchase of a hotel for which he promised £5,000 .■ash. Frank Kay-Stretton, hotel-broker, said that in consequence of representations he believed Cook to be a man of means. Negotiations were completed for the purchase of a hotel by Cook who promised £5,000 cash for It. He said that the money was at the Bank of New South Wales. He produced the credit note for £5,749. Accused then decided to transfer his money to the Commercial Bank, Newton. The manager asked him to draw a cheque on the Bank of New South Wales, which was done. Accused then drew another cheque for £5 on the strength of the £5,749 thus transferred to the Commercial Bank. Witness then pressed Cook to take £5 cash by endorsing the cheque for him. Next day, acting on information which had come to his knowledge, witness went to the manager of the Bank of New South Wales, who informed him that there had never been any money deposited on behalf of accused. Harry Jacobs, manager of the Equitable Loan and Finance Company, said that accused called on him, stating that he was wool-buying. He produced a promissory note for £5.000 odd, and said he was a shareholder in a certain Sydney firm. He wanted £4O, and witness inspected the promissory note, with which he was not satisfied. Cook said that he know personally the manager of the Loan and Mercantile Company, who would back the note. Witness agreed to advanee the £4O, subject to the Mercantile manager’s guarantee. Witness treated the accused as a joke, and never expected to see him again. He examined the promissory note, which he noticed had a number of glaring defects. It would have been hopeless to raise money on the documents as far as he was concerned. Detective Nalder gave evidence that when questioned accused admitted that the Sydney firm in which he was supposed to have shares was nonexistent. Cook said he had prepared all the documents himself. He had no money in New Zealand, nor was he expecting any.