LAND FRAUDS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10013, 8 April 1910, Page 4

LAND FRAUDS.

The story of the frauds of George Franklin, the Southampton builder, show how far a man may go in this direction Of dishonesty, provided toe has a : goad reputation and some luck. 'Franklin was a man yf standing in Southampton, being a member of th" local. Chamber of Commerce, and i a'ving sat on the magisterial ben,;;.; His plan of operation was to cut up land he had acquirtn into plots and raise money several times over upon the same plot of land by mesns;of bogus leases.. On som& plots of land he raised money nine times ; over, and apparently the ' money;was lost in speculation. For some time people who lent th< money , susppcted nothing, far the interest was paid regularly. "I advanced my money on.what I was told \wero first mortgages on hous?s and plo's of ground in Eastleigh and Portswood," said <)ne victim "I had several transactions with him. In one case I advanced on supposed first mortgages on certain houses in leigh. I now learn that live * ther gentlemen claim to have lent money on first mortgages on the same property. Then I advanced £3OO each on first mortgages on fourteen plots in Maryfield road, Portswood. Now I find that five other men also claim to have lent Franklin monjey on firs t mortgages on the same property." Altogether this lender l{/st £7,QOp, . but his was npt the worit cass, .for a bank lost £16,000, &nd several of the victims were absolutely ruined, having lent Franklin all their savings. "I did not know Mr FranKlin said *;ancEtheisi victim;* "•but iny , solicitor'. 1 ; him to be a thoroughly refjutajble |nan, and I was 1 tbld that the property on which I advanced my m ney was quite unencumbered. . The,deed bo.tje the Inland Revenue stamp, but 1 now learn to my Co3t that it is absolutely valueless as a gijarajptee." This case seems to be typical; the lenders relied on their solicitors-,-and they-relied -on Frariklin's* reputation. ' When the'president >vf the Hampshire Law Society called a meeting of solicitors interested in the frauds.i to his astotpishment- over fifty attended. The]|Jf irauds .are not particularly flattering to the .legal profession in Hampshire, and; that they should have been perjpetrated on such a scale, and have extended over eight or nine years, suggests that the official system of recording-such- transactions.would beall the better for an overhaul.