LOST £500 AT CARDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 April 1922, Page 5

LOST £500 AT CARDS.

A RECKLESS SPENDER. SMALL FORTUNE DISSIPATED. A strange story of reckless extravagance, ending in crime, was unfolded at the Supreme Court in Wellington last week, when a Dalmatian, John Nickolich, came before Mr. Justice Hosking for sentence on 18 charges of false pretences, forgery and uttering. Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell appeared for the prisoner, who, counsel stated, had a, strange history. Two years ago he had received £3OOO for the .side of land; to-day he was a beggar. He had twice applied to the Government for land, and had had both applications refused. He became depressed, apparently went mad, and took the quickest course of dissipating what to him was a fortune. He had been an exemplary worker, a man to be trusted, but he had given way to drink and gambling, on one occasion losing as much as £5OO at a single sitting of poker. A friend of his had owed him £lOO, a drink bill, and one of the cheques had been drawn up in that friend’s name, prisoner’s idea being that he would thereby obtain his money back. As a matter . of fact, he had previously done the same thing, and the cheque had then been honored. All along prisoner had believed that he was merely incurring ft civil liability, and it was probable that his friends, against whom most of the offences had been committed, would never have taken proceedings against him. When the first matter was referred to prisorter by the police, he laid all his cards on the table, and the result was that a long series of charges was formulated. His Honor remarked that the 18 charges did not represent the full extent of prisoner’s operations, for there were apparently 46 cases in which he had issued valueless cheques from June 13 to November 13, at towns from Auckland to Timaru, the total sum involved being erver £6OO. Counsel had made a strong appeal for lenient treatment to prisoner, but a series of three forgeries and 15 cases of issuing valueless cheques could not be passed over lightly. Prisoner was sentenced to terms of one year’s imprisonment on each of the forgery charges, ami to terms of months’ imprisonment on each of the false pretences charges, the former sentences to run concurrently, and the latter to be cumulative —which means that he will be detained for practically three years.