Post by BereniceUK on Apr 15, 2017 15:20:57 GMT
ALLEGED ENEMY TRADING.
COLNE MANUFACTURERS COMMITTED TO THE ASSIZES.
The Manchester City Stipendiary Magistrate (Mr. E. Brierley) concluded yesterday a two days' inquiry into allegations of trading, or attempting to trade, with an enemy firm after the proclamation of the Government against all such attempts. The defendants were Harry Broughton, senior, principal partner in the Stonebridge Manufacturing Company, Colne and Manchester, and his son, also named Harry. Mr. Wingate Saul was counsel for the prosecution; Mr. T. B. Leigh appeared for Mr. Broughton, the elder, and Mr. Acton for the younger defendant.
On Monday the case against the elder defendant alone was taken. It was alleged by counsel for the prosecution that Mr. Broughton had shipped large quantities of goods to the East to the order of a firm in Amsterdam, which really was a branch of a Hamburg house, and that when questioned by representatives of the Home Office defendant said the firm was Dutch.
Answering questions by the defending counsel, Home Office witnesses said the two defendants had rendered every assistance to them.
Yesterday the charges against father and son were taken up. It was stated that the Stonebridge Company did a large business with a firm in the East before the war, which firm was controlled by a German in Hamburg, and that in July and August of 1915 they tried to ship more goods. It was not the fault of defendants, said Mr. Saul, that the goods were not received; the goods were held up when a discovery was made by the British authorities.
In his opening speech on Monday, Mr. Saul said the letters disclosed a shocking state of affairs at this present time. Instead of replying truthfully to the Home Office, the elder defendant made many untrue statements. "I submit," counsel added, "this is one of the worst cases that has come to light since the commencement of the present war."
Mr. S. Hird, of the Home Office Foreign Trade Department, said yesterday that the elder defendant told him: "I have nothing to hide. If I have done anything wrong I have done it unwittingly."
Both defendants, reserving their defence, were committed to the Assizes for trial, on their own recognitions.
(Lancashire Daily Post, 10 January 1917)
COLNE MANUFACTURERS COMMITTED TO THE ASSIZES.
The Manchester City Stipendiary Magistrate (Mr. E. Brierley) concluded yesterday a two days' inquiry into allegations of trading, or attempting to trade, with an enemy firm after the proclamation of the Government against all such attempts. The defendants were Harry Broughton, senior, principal partner in the Stonebridge Manufacturing Company, Colne and Manchester, and his son, also named Harry. Mr. Wingate Saul was counsel for the prosecution; Mr. T. B. Leigh appeared for Mr. Broughton, the elder, and Mr. Acton for the younger defendant.
On Monday the case against the elder defendant alone was taken. It was alleged by counsel for the prosecution that Mr. Broughton had shipped large quantities of goods to the East to the order of a firm in Amsterdam, which really was a branch of a Hamburg house, and that when questioned by representatives of the Home Office defendant said the firm was Dutch.
Answering questions by the defending counsel, Home Office witnesses said the two defendants had rendered every assistance to them.
Yesterday the charges against father and son were taken up. It was stated that the Stonebridge Company did a large business with a firm in the East before the war, which firm was controlled by a German in Hamburg, and that in July and August of 1915 they tried to ship more goods. It was not the fault of defendants, said Mr. Saul, that the goods were not received; the goods were held up when a discovery was made by the British authorities.
In his opening speech on Monday, Mr. Saul said the letters disclosed a shocking state of affairs at this present time. Instead of replying truthfully to the Home Office, the elder defendant made many untrue statements. "I submit," counsel added, "this is one of the worst cases that has come to light since the commencement of the present war."
Mr. S. Hird, of the Home Office Foreign Trade Department, said yesterday that the elder defendant told him: "I have nothing to hide. If I have done anything wrong I have done it unwittingly."
Both defendants, reserving their defence, were committed to the Assizes for trial, on their own recognitions.
(Lancashire Daily Post, 10 January 1917)