CONFIDING CHINESE.

THE VICTIMS OP TRICKSTERS. LOOTED BY WILE AND BY FORGE. AT PANMURE AND POINT CHEVALIER. Two well-dressed and well-groomed men named Cecil Love (271 and George S. Ormiston (30) came before Mr. J. E. Wilson. S.M., yesterday, on tour charges of having obtained money from Chinese by false pretence?, and 'live charges of having stolen money from the dwellings of Chinese. The charges were that they had stolon 1-t from Sing Bung's dwelling at Panmure. £23 from Ah Ling's in the same locality, and sums of i!3O and 50/ from the habitations of Tarn Ark and Fong Ark at Point Chevalier. Tlie false pretences alleged against them were that they represented in one ease, they landed a shipment of rice from Japan, and in other cases that they were representatives of Smceton's. Ltd., and supplying such articles as starch, rice, etc. 'STIFF LUCK* WITHOUT STARCH. Din Lee, a laundryman of .lervois Road, said that on August 4, Love called at liis laundry, said he was representing Smeeton's Ltd., and was selling a pood line of starch at £3 10/ per cwt. Witness agreed to get a hundred-weight, and paid down £3 7/0 in advance, but no star r h had been delivered. There was another man with Love at the time. Law Lee, another laundryman in the same street, gave evidence of having paid 10/ deposit for starch on the same misrepresentation made by the two accused, and having got nothing for his money. Joe Sing, of Albert Street, told a- story oi having been "starched"' in similar style by Ormiston for a £5 deposit. The manager of Pmeeton's, Ltd., F. W. Riach, declared that the accused were absolute strangers to him, and had never been employed by his firm. A LITTLE HALF-TON ORDER. Wah Sung, market gardener of ilangere, stated that both accused called at his place, and stated that they had just landed a shipment of rice from Japan which they were selling at £150 a ton. They said they had a shop in Shortland Street, and would deliver next day any rice he might order. He ordered half a ton of rice at the price mentioned, and paid £10 on account, for which he got a receipt. The rice did not arrive. CHASED BY CHINESE. The evidence as to the theft went to indicate that having spied out the land, in August and early in November, by wile and with a profit of about £1S odd, the accused turned their attention to physical force for further profit. On November 21, said Tarn Art, gardener of Point Chevalier, the accused tried to sell him rice, but he declined to do business, and they left him in the garden, going away in a direction that would lead them past his honse. Half an hour later he went to the house and found that a box in his bedroom had been broken open, and £30 taken. A £20 note was included in the money stolen. Mong Yee, gardener, of Tamaki, said that just before noon on November 25 he noticed a man standing near his house. Witness was a distance away at the time and went to the house, whereon Ormiston accosted him and asked him if he wanted to buy rice. He declined and went into the house where he found Love in one of the rooms. Love asked him if he wanted to buy rice and he declined again. Love then walked out and witness followed him, till Ormiston pulled out a revolver anl pointed it at him. Witness was carrying a knife at the time. He called other Chinese, and a number of them followed the accused for about a mile before they got away. When witness got back to his house he found that £2 in silver had been stolen from a box in his room. A COVERING TRADE NAME. Further evidence showed that on November 21. the accused were seen in the vicinity of Fong Art's house at Panmure, and after their departure 50/ was found to be gone from a box in the house. On November 27 the accused Were seen by Chinese driving from the houses of Ah Ling and Sing Sung at Panmure, while the Chinese were at work in their market gardens, and the Celestials at once went to their habitations to find that £14 had been taken from Sing Sung's place and £23 from Ah Ling's, the money in caen case having, been taken from boxes in the bedrooms. I Detectives De Norville and Lambert were informed, and they traced the horse and gig, and eventually found that accused were purporting to trade as '-'Rogers and Co." with offices in Wellesley Chambers. A visit to their office resiulted in the finding of a I couple of revolvers and ammunition, I while one of the Chinese boxes which j had been stolen bodily was found hidden in a tree at Panmure- When i taxed with the thefts and frauds the accused eventually admitted them. The accused pleaded guilty, and i were committed to the Supreme Court I for sentence. Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 298, 16 December 1919, Page 16