SWINDLING SWEEPS AND THE SWEEPS WHO SWINDLE.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1304, 1 October 1883, Page 2

SWINDLING SWEEPS AND THE SWEEPS WHO SWINDLE.

[co.ndesknd from thii hbrald (mcl.), skpt. 4.] The Herald detective thus deals with "ORIENT," whose consulation on tlie Melbourne Cup 1883, capital -620,000 in 10,000 shares at £2 eachj is one of the biggest of these coucerns. A Po*e with a Scotch surname, Mr " Orient," landed in Melbourne from New Zealand in 1881. Shortly afterwards he commenced business in the eastern portion of Bourke street, iv rather a different profession to the one respect — H was a swindle. Gentlemanly in appearance, tastefully tailored, and pleasantly persuasive in his broken English, the Polish Scotchman's first venture in Melbourne, appealing as it did more especially to ladies, ought to have been a success, ut it " didn't come off." Simply because (not t>eing a sweep) it was too palpably a fraud, and too impracticable for Victorians to bite, and the Marriage Insurance Society " bust up." In 1883 the bait was changed and the line thrown out again, this time with a £"20,000 Cup Consulation oh the end of it. Advertising extensively, Mr "Orient" has now worked up a big ' business throughout thecolonies, at this i time of the year receiving 30, 40, yes and 60 letters daily, each containing at least £1. But these missives are never delivered at the office as advertised : tha address is only necessary to prove ' the respectability of the concern. A box is retainpd at the Melbourne Post Office, aud the officials instructed to detain all letters addressed "Orient" until called for; and in the prosecution of these investigations "it has often I afforded me much merriment to observe i

the - unconcerned fashion in yhicb, < smoking ia cigarette, • "Orient". Btrolls along the Post Office piazza with j his weather-eye open for detectives, I while his assistant goes to the box « nice j with .a black leather bag, into which he I ranis all. enclosures addressed to " Orient," and quietly departs. The two next meet in a bar parlor, where, if the haul has been good, they indulge iv some " fiz," and then proceed to open the letters, never by any-chance taking them tothe adveifcstd address, this proceeding being attended with too much risk. The receipt is sent awuy next morning, and the cilent, possibly, a servant girl who has invested a month's savings, duly receives the acknowledgement and a nairibered ticket, with the intimation that result slips will be posted after the drawing. In due course she gets the result, looks in vain for her number in the prize list " Orient's" debut as a sweep promoter took place in January, 1882, when bean uou need that he purposed holding a £5000 consultation in shares of £1 on the Australian Cup. In the following March he advertised that hid sweep uad filled with 5000 members. Now, this, for an unknown individual, who had only arrived in Melbourne a few months previously, sounded slightly improbable, when it is weli known tbat the oldest and most-trusted of the Melbourne Bweep-hokters has the greatest difficulty iv iilling one sweep ou the Australian Cap wi..h 2000 subscribers, while another gentleman, whose name is also a ovo suspicion, rarely obtain 1000 subscribers for tlie event As a matter of fact, "Orient" did not receive LIOO for investment in the sweep which he announced closed with LSOOO, and in squaring matters with his clients he either lost -£4900, which again to say the least, looks a trifle improbable, or he did not "draw the sweep at all, but sent out bogus result slips to a few su scribers who had been mad enough to send their pouuds for invesment However, he announced that he had closed his Australian sweep with LSOOO, and advertising this fuct(i) extensively in connection with his next consultation •" L2OOO — on the Melbourne Cup ' — he established agents in New Zealand, Tasmania, aud -ew South Wales, and worked in probably L2OOO by Cup day, 1882. (Certainly not more than L2OOO, arguing logically from the known fact that a Melbourne j sweep-holder who occupies a high niche in public confidence and who also advertises extensively intercolorually, only succeeded in filling one L2OOO consultation.) "Orient," on this ocj casion, with that minute. attention to accuracy in detail which is characteristic of his career, advertised that he closed with £14,122. . ' Now, two questions may very reasonably be asked in connection with these ! facia If " Orient " does not get as many subscribers as he advertised, how does he manage in'disbursing the money he says he receives ? Or what becomes of , the £14,122 which' ■•♦'Orient" acknowledges to have received on the Melbourne Cup 1882 ? My answer to the first-query is that a bogus drawing takes place amongst his own crowd, and a few non-starters — horses that have already been scratched are apportioned out to those clients who have been good customers, or to those who would be most likely to ad vertise the fact To the second question, my answer is— " Orient " never received £14,000 or one-fifth part of it (until this year), and the lion's share of what he has received has gone into his own pocket. This season the subject of this eulogistic little sketch has done wonderfully well, as a result of the announcement prihted on the back of his prospectuses to the effect that he disbursed the £14,122 over the last Cup. But for this expose -£4000 would probably have passed through his hands in the next two months. Whether it will or not now rests with the publio! If, after my sketch of " Orient's " career, tlie public like to trust him with their pounds, let them do so by all means. They will lose their money, and what is more, having been warned, they will deserve to lose it