CAMERON CASES COLLAPSE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 1 June 1907, Page 5

CAMERON CASES COLLAPSE.

A SENSATIONAL. FiNlfc.ll. THE ACCUSED ACQUITTED. At tho local Court on Friday, before ilr W. Ci. Riddell, fi.il., Alien Cameron was charged, on tint information of J. \\ r . West, that at Elthaui oh Eeuruaiy 7th lie committed tiie theft of a. hor.-e, gig, and harness, the property of J. W. West, and valued at £35. lie was further charged with having obtained by a false pretence a motor bicycle valued 11 '..■:<) from A. F. Cole (Cole and Donne.ly) of Elthain. In the information it was alleged that he had falsely represented himself to be in the employment of Arthur Cleave and Co., of Auc'k.Vod,! and that the horse, gig, and harness '.

1 given in part payment for the machine, j were his own prop.rty. Mr Quilliam (Ciovelt anil Quiliiam) I appeared for the informant, and ill' i Johnstone (Malone, Anderson and John- ' s(one) for the defence. Mr Quilliam in opening slated th-it Cameron had hired tile horse, gig and harness from West, hut did not' pay for the hire. It was afterwards fomid'tn.'U, he lia.l sold the property in part payment for a motor bicycle, and the hor.-.'.-,; gig. and harness were found on Mcs-Tsi Cole and Donnelly's premises in Ila ..vera I J. W. We t, .ivory stable keeper, e.rrving on business in New Plymouth, said that about twelve months ago the defendant came into his stable with Mr

Cleave, proprietor of the "Sporting and Dramatic Review." Mr. Cleave placed his motor-ear in the stable. Between that time and 18th July he often sawCameron. Just before that date Cameron came to the stable, and asked if lie could hire a trap. He stated ha was in the. employ of Mr Cleave. The trap was hired, at lon shillings a day, and Cameron took away the gig, horse, uul harness, with horse-rug, knee-rug, lamp whip, and mat ou 18th July. The entry

in his day-book was "Mr Canierni ,' (Cleave's man), gig 10s." A few dayis afterwards defendant came to the stables and complained that 10s per day was too much for the hire, as he had to ford the horse. The price was reduced to 7s Od per day, provided he looked after .

the horse well, and this he agreed to , do. The ledger entry of July 20th: . "Sir Cleave and Co.'s man, 7s Cd p.T day,'' was put in. Next saw Cameron in the stables two or three weeks afterwards, and requested* payment. Cameron said he hadn't received any money from

Mr Cleave., but was expecting some, and * would pay a* soon as he received it,

Plaintiff said that would be all right, and agreed to wait. Cameron added that he was going to try and get Mr Cleave to buy the turn-out for him, and witness 'offered (o sell it for £35. Cam- '

fron promised to communicate with .Mr j Cleave at once. Did not see defemlan

again for two or three weeks, when I'C spoke to him in Devon Street, witness again asking him for money. Defend- ' ant again said he had not received any money yet from Mr Cleave, who had le- *, fused to buy the turn-out for him. Witness said lie must have some money lor t the hire, or he would take the trap ~ back, but as the defendant begged to [ be allowed to keep the horse and trip, % again promising to pay on receipt of 1 money from Mr Cleave, he let him ke-ip t it. Cameron also said he had property n in Wellington, and that he would t"y 1 and raise money on thai. No question a of purchasing the trap was ever men- t tionetl after that. Witness received a letter from Cameron, promising payment in a few days. Defendant had a shop in Devon street, and witness called there on several occasions to try and get some money, but the shop was a!ways closed. Witness went away on J, holiday for a month, and whilst he was j away he wrote to his head groom about the trap. On his return he was handed e a letter from Cameron, in which he pi')- j mised to pay money off his acocunt very ] shortly. Another of the same nature „ came later. Looked for Cameron at 0 the Taranaki Agricultural Show at New fa Plymouth, but could not see him. On a Friday in April he received a telegram i [ from Mr Cole in Elttramv Went to 1: I Eltham that day, and saw Mr Cole, who h gave him a letter to Mr Donnelly, h's ■• partner (Cole and Donnelly) in Hawcra. il Saw Mr Donnelly that night, and went next morning to Mr Donnelly's private residence, where he found the horse and c gig. The horse-rug, lamps, whip, and '| mat were missing, and the trap wis not in as good repair as when hired liv <-, Cameron. Mr Donnelly handed 'over tin turn-out to whnes>, who brought it back to New Plymouth. It had been ( in Ids possession ever since. The gig „ when hired out was worth £ls. the s mare £l3, and the harness £?>. (!a-'e no one authority to part with the pos- 1 session of the property. J

Cross-examined by Mr Johnsto-ie: Had known Cameron for about six week.* before the first interview wiih Mm. Cameron hir-d the gig for ho purpose of going al out the country taking pantographs. Got the property back on 20th of April, and took ■•ri'niinal proceedings against Cameron on 24th April. Mr Johnston?: Why Jf,l you proceed criminally against this man, Witness: l!ocui-c he sold my horse and trap without authority, and for he simple reason that this class of business

should be put a slop to. lie took no advice before proceeding. Had instructed a man to take possession of the trap, but Cameron entreated him to let him have it further. At the present time Cameron owed him about £7O for hire. Had no entries in his book other than the two put in. Did not take proceedings earlier to obtain payment bceau-e he couldn't iind the man, ami bccati-e Cameron was continually promising to pay in an account.

Mr Johnstone produced an account showing Cameron to be indebted to J. W. West for this item, "to purchase of gig, hor.-e, and harness ,C 33." Tie statement was on one of informant's printed account forms, and was date! July 23rd, 1006.

Witness considered this account be a forgery. It was like his handwriting, but he would swear ii was not his. lie never wrote the account, and did not -end it. He had no more recollection of writing it than of Hying. Mr Johnstone: It's a bit of a knockout, isn't it V Witness: It is. I never s lit it. Mr Johnstone siij he would give him a chance to remember. Witness thought carefully, but could give no information. Honestly, lie said, lie had no recollection of having written or sent in the account, for the simple reasai a that he never knew wh-rc to semi, lie had never sent a subsequent •'aecoi'.iit

rendered.'' Mr John-lone : , .id lie could contradict tliat too. The account was examined hy ilie llcucli ami by counsel. Mr Quilliam admitted it was in West's writing. Probably it was but a memorandum given by West tu Cameron in connection with the projected purehise by Cleave. Witness could nol explain the mailer at all. Mr yuilliiim asked Ihe indulgence ol: the Court for a couple of minutes to confer with his client. The tiling needed an explanation. Mr Johnstone objected.

The Magistrate slid the explanation must he made, ami made hy the willies* in the witness-box. The witness slill denied all knowledge of the document, and denied having sold Hi" property to Cameron. Mr Quilliani declined to proceed further, and Mr Johnstone applied to have ■ the information di. missed. I Tlie S.M". said thai as the witness could give no explanation of the vlncu- ; ntent. which was in the lriture of an I aceonnt for a wile, he mii.t dismiss the 1 case. The informant, of course, might ] honestly hive forgotten the matter. Mr John-tone -aid he imputed no dishonesty to We-t. Mr Quilli.iiM, thanking Mr J«hn*tmie. said that lei,] he known of the existence of that account he would not have iipAn adjournment of th" second clnrge wis "ranted. Later in ihe afternoon His YVorhip was asked to resume business. Mr Qnili'iiim announced that rs the second information depended largely on the snecc-s of the first, as to the ownership of the vehicle, his client (Mr Cole) hail taken th ■• very proper course of withdrawing (he proceedings at life earliest opportunity. The charge of false pretences was then withdrawn.