CO129-510-14 Report of committee of enquiry into discrepancies and losses in government departments in Hong Kong... 21-4-1928 - 24-10-1928 — Page 120

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27.

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either; signature to which one can point and say that the

signatories never so signed.

There are many recognised signs for which search

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is made when forgery is suspected not one of those

signs can be found in any of the six signatures appearing

on these three cheques.

If the signatures are forgeries they are superb

forgeries.

It is impossible to say to what degree of perfection

a highly skilled forger might, with many months of

practice, attain, and it is therefore possible that the

signatures are forgeries but are, nevertheless, not

capable of being proved so to be.

It would seem to be almost hopeless to seek to

convince a jury that the signatures are forgeries when

in every case in which we point to some peculiarity or

rarity those supporting the genuineness of the cheques

can counter by showing the jury a number of admittedly

genuine cheques in which the same pecularity or rarity occurs.

ba It seems to be a matter of mathematical improbality

that each of these three cheques each of which is suspected

to be a forgery and each of which bears the same date

should in both the signatures contain a number of rarities

or,pecularities which are not found in conjunction in

any of the genuine cheques which have been examined,

S

One must suppose the forger, if there was a forger,

to have essayed to copy a genuine signature it seems

equally a matter of mathematical improbability that the

all forger would find a signature to copy which held these

pecularities.

It would be exceedingly difficult to convince a jury

by means of arguments based on mathetical improbabilities

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