Present: Jayewardene A.J.  1930

KING v. PERERA.

61-D. C. (Crim.) Nuwara Eliya, 145.

Handwriting expert.-Uncorroborated, testimony of expert-Unsafe to convict.

It is not safe to base a conviction solely on the evidence of an expert in handwriting.

APPEAL from a conviction by the District Judge of Nuwara Eliya. - The facts appear from the judgment.

R. L. Pereira, K.C. (with R. C. Fonseka), for accused appellant.

Crosette-Thambiah, C.C., for respondent.

July 9, 1930. JAYEWARDENE A.J.-

The accused was charged with dishonestly signing a false document, a pari-mutuel pay-out chit for Rs. 1,000, on February 13, 1929, at Nuwara Eliya with the intention of causing it to be believed that it was signed by one S. A. Perera, and also with abetting the commission of the offence of criminal breach of trust in respect of the said sum by some person unknown. The accused was convicted and sentenced to six months' rigorous imprisonment.

The Ceylon Turf Club employs about twenty pay-out clerks, two supervisors, and a cashier at Nuwara Eliya, who work inside one building. The pay-out clerks when they require funds fill up a requisition and sign it, obtain