WHO IS MR. GUNTER?

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 274, 9 February 1928, Page 17

WHO IS MR. GUNTER?

“Tramway Expert” Is Well-Known Here

GAOLED FOR POSING AS NAVY SURGEON

AUCKLANDERS, particularly those who have an interest in tramways, are displaying a pardonable curiosity as to the credentials of the Mr, R. W. Gunter, whose views on trams and buses were yesterday cabled from Sydney.

What is more, they are curious to know whether “Mr. Gunter 1 ’ is the Mr. Gunter who is believed to be connected with the London General Omnibus Company, or whether the mere name carries as much weight as did the name “Surgeon-Commander Joy of the Royal Navy,” when a gentleman using that name (without having any claim to it), gave the Auckland police a considerable amount of trouble last year. Finally they are interested in finding out whether “Mr. R. W. Gunter” and “Surgeon Commander Joy” are one and the same person. Inquiries made by The Sun today go to show that R. W. Gunter, now in Australia, and ‘’SurgeonCommander Joy” are one and the same person.

A prominent Auckland executive, shown a photograph of Gunter this morning, immediately recognised him as, the man who posed—and posed convincingly—as a tramway expert, and carried away with him a number of letters of introduction which the Aucklander now wishes had never been written.' About the middle of last year Robert William Gunter was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for obtaining money by falsely representing that he was Surgeon-Commander Joy of the Royal Navy. £n January of this year he came out of gaol, but he was free only a week when the police apprehended him on a charge of being idle and disorderly. On this occasion the chief-detective said Gunter had been starting his old practices over again, and the police had decided to “nip them in the bud.” “He has been worming himself into the good graces of the city drapers,” commented the chief-detective. The magistrate was reluctant to send him to gaol again, but warned him that if he went round telling any more lies he would be sent to gaol for six months. Gunter was ordered to come up for sentence if called upon, and left the court in company with Captain Davies of the Salvation Army. Captain Davies arranged for Gunter to go to a home, but he decided to go to the country, and that was the last the Salvation Army officer saw of him. It was stated that Gunter had gone to work in the country. , In reality he left for Sydney by the Marama last Friday. There is actually a Surgeon-Commander Joy attached to . the Naval Division in Auckland, whom Gunter apparently found it valuable to impersonate in Auckland last year, as a result, of which be first came up against the New Zealand police. Yesterday, Gunter, using bis own name, or the name he is officially known to the poliee by, in an interview cabled from Sydney, expressed and elaborated the view that ’buses must supersede trams. He was described as “consulting engineer to the London General Omnibus Company.”