BANK CLERK'S FALL.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12483, 20 April 1906, Page 9

BANK CLERK'S FALL.

SPECULATION, GAMBLING, AND • EXTRAVAGANCE. (special to "the tress.' , ) DUNEDTFT, April 10. Counsel for William Jones Williams, a b.-urak o'erk in *h<. , employ of the Bank of Now Zealand at Ophir, who received eighteen months' un.prison.mont for the embozzleme-nt of £317 in all, said accused was teller in the bank at Ophir, and there had the handling of large sums of money. Hβ was at Ophir for four years, and customers made a practice, which was a bad one, of .paying money to aooueed not at the banJi, but wherever ihoy happened to meet him. Money was thus pint into his pocket and sometimes, counsel was afraid, kept there. Prisoner's trouble seemed to have arisen from taking shares in companies wihich afterwards went into liquidation. He was unable to pay caJje, and borrowed money. He was afterwards pressed by lenders, and was thus tempted to appropriate som© of the moneys of tho bank. Prisoner had borrno a gcod character, and came of respectable people. When transferred to Oplhir he had applied fer a week's leave, so that he might come to Dunedin and explain his position. That leave was not granted, and subsequently one of his defalcations wae discovered. Prisoner then came to town, ma do a clean breast of it to the baoik aurthorities, and did all lie could to explain how the trouble arose. His Honour, in passing sentence, said : —"In tihe letter you wrote to the bank you saiid itliat the causes of your embezzlements weit> practically tlhree, first, share transactions, secondly, gambling, and thirdly, extravaganc?. No douht a young ma.n dn a diisfcrict like Ophir is piacnd in surroundings M'hioh test his honesty and strength of mind, but I really myself cartinot e.-se why a young mnn who Ikis hie future to consider, and who is tirueted by his employers, cannot avoid these temptations. It is true that living in a (hotel brings you/reg men into cointact iwith undesirable charactera, but there is too much altogether of this emibezzlement caused by gambliiiig and extravagance. Continually during Jnat four or fivo yenrs similar cases to your's liavo come before mc, and they have satisfied mc that among a great many young men there is no desire to avoid temptation."