THE McINTYRE CASE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12904, 9 September 1907, Page 4

THE McINTYRE CASE.

• . A SI-VTEXCE OF FOUR MONTHS' DIPRISONMENT. The Mclntyre cose came to'_ close at the Supreme Court on Saturday when the principal, Daniel Cunninghem Mclntyre, appeared before M

Justice Chapmen, and wm sentenced .to four months' imprisonment on charges of misappropriating Exhibition funds, and of obtaining money by fake pretences, to which charge* he had pleaded guilty in the lower Court. Mr Johnston, who appeared for the aocuaed, eaid he would like to say a few words before hi* Honour dealt with Mclntyre. For many years the I eooused wae <% yery highly-respected ! business man, carrying on' • manufao- | turing business here, but owing to j keen competition he was, abont two years ago, forced out of business. At that time he wu a considerable amount on the wrong aide of the ledger, and either on account of pride, j or on account of the position he had ! previously occupied, or because be had I not the moral courage to do so. he ! failed to take advantage of the prori- ; sions of the Bankruptcy Act, which ! was * beneficial Act, framed for people jin that position. He foolishly hoped against hope that something muihi turn up, and that he would be able to pay off his creditors. In the meantime, to meet his more pressing creditors, he had recourse to moneylenders, and got satisfaction, so far as that method was concerned for a little while. Later on he obtained a position at the Exhibition as Director of Exhibits, and, as was only natural, that was the signal for those creditors who had not been satisfied to press him for their money. He borrowed more money and paid some of them, and others he managed the best way he could to pay in dribs and drabe. * In October of last year Mclntyre's position became absolutely desperate. He then either had to go into the Bankruptcy Court and drag his official position in the mad, or pay something, and in a weak moment ho helped himself to money which did not belong to him. He (counsel) would ask his Honour to consider that in doing so Mclntyre did not wuh to deprive and did not intend nnally to deprive the Government of! the money he took. His Honour: That is unfortunately tho case in many of these affaire. ~a i r . J onne* °n > ,c ontinuing, said that Molntyre placed the cheques into his own.'banking account, where they were easily recognisable. Towards the close of the Exhibition he struggled hard to save himself, and hoped, not withont reason, to be able to meet his liabilities, which wore something nnder £100. He was suspended by the general manager near the end of the Exhibition, and was informed that no publicity would be given for a few days, for the matter would have to be placed before tho Minister. Hβ had borrowed as much money as he could from Christchurch people, and as he had been very long and favourably known in Wellington in former days, and hid done a considerable amount of business there he relied on gettmg from his friends there sufficent to tide him over. Before going, however, he went to two tradespeople, one or whom he had caehe<' cheques with on many occasions, whicl cheques had always fceen met, and th« other one he had only cashed cheque with occasionally. He was then fully persuaded that he would be able to gel the money in Wellington on his ar rival. To hia sorrow he found, wher he got there, that toe news of hie suv pension was already in the Wellington, papers, and any chance he had of raising the money there was gone. H<* thereupon telegraphed back to thos« people asking them to hold the cheques He did not know at that time that his account had been closed by the bank. His Honour: Hβ did not expect the cheques to be paid by the bank? Mr Johnston: No, that is admitted, ms Honour: He was putting off the time in the expectation of beine able to pay them. Mr Johnston: Yes. If your Honour accepts what he says, that will rery largely take the tting out of those particular matters.

Continuing, Mr Johnston said that ao tar as restitution w«e concerned, Mclntyre, in his present financial condition, was absolutely unable to make restitution to the Exhibition authorities, but so far as the two tradespeople were concerned, restitution would be made. On the question of character it went almost without saying that a rman receiving the appointment Mcln-

tyre bad must have been a man of excellent character and well recommended. Mclntyre had a sheaf of recommendations from all parts of the colony, but, _ unfortunately, they had gone astray in his absence. While at the Exhibition he worked like a slave, and what he had done was recognised by the exhibitors, =who got up a testimonial .to, him for £100. At the time of the fire at tn£ Exhibition, Mclntyre, at great personal risk, was foremost in suppressing it j and for that he was commended at the enquiry into the fire held afterward*. Molntyre had now been four months in custody, and what he said in his statement went to show that the punishment he had received at Monte Video was almost equal to seven weeks' solitary confinement. He had undergone a terrible agony of mind, and hie experiences had aged him at least ten years. Be was anxious to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the world, and to support his wife and - family. He (counsel) trusted that his Honour could see his way to direct that the accused ehould come op for sentence when called upon. Mclntyre had had a rery hard time, and he only fell at great pressure. Hβ had already received two offers of employment as soon as he was through his trouble. * • Mr Johnston then called witnesses as to character. Bookwood 0. Bishop, secretary of

f the Christchurch Gee Company, Mid - ho had known. Mclntyre for many - years, more particularly in connection 3 with the Exhibition. He (witness) i was for « period chairman x>f the Space b Committee,, and was brought in oh»t relation to Mclntyre. Hβ bad [ always heard Mclntyre spoken of . in terms of esteem, and had never , heard anything derogatory to Wβ .character, m/any, way." ,; ' \ ' Robert Allan stated 'that he; had j known Mclntyre for fifteen years, and ' , during that time had always known [ him cm a man of good character, and I up to the time of the Exhibition affair ( he had never heard «ny word against ■ , the accused in any shape or form. He . (witness) was en Executive Commie- ' Bioner of the Exhibition with Mr ' Munro when the Gorernment, on their recommendation, appointed Mclntyre travelling representative for the Exhibition, end his duty at that time was to tour New Zealand and to work up interest in the different districts. He did hU work exceedingly well, and was afterwards appointed Director of Exhibits by Mr Munro. At that time he (witness) had left the Exhibition, but from what he had heard Molntyre >- had been a great success in hi« new position. Mr Stringer, E.G., Crown Prosecutor, said there was no question that Molntyre had borne the rery highest character among the people her©. He must mention, however, that the sums mentioned in the charges were not the only sums that had been misappropriated. There were three or four other sums involved, but they were not of any large amount. He must also mention that he had Mclntyre's own handwriting to show that in the administration of his office in the granting of awards there was collusion between him and some of those who were interested in the exhibits. His Honour; I suppose that was all part of the weakness arising from his financial position P Mr Stringer: I think so. I think that, pressed by his financial embarrassment, ho was weak enough to listen to people who asked him to give them awards which perhaps they were not entitled to. The letter on the matter which wns sent by Mclntyre to Mr ' Clark, one of the Exhibition officials, showed that although he had been promised the different amounts he had not in fact received them. i His Honour, in passing sentence, said ho was very sorry to see a man who hnd borne a good character and had led a respectable life in the accused's position. He had read the statement that no had made, and he had listened with attention to. what counsel had said in his behalf with respect to the statement that he had 'made of how he had fared in the hands of moneylenders. He intended that ■ that should be brought under the j notice of the Minister of Justice in any rase. As to the ac{cased's statement of the sufferings he endured in a foreign prison that would not be without weight with him. It was a scandal that such things oould occur in a country that was, at any rate, called a civilised country. He wished that he could consistently with hie duty adopt the suggestion of counsel, and do something short of punishing the accused by imprisonment, but he did not think that it wonkl.be poteiblo for him to do so in the circumstances disclosed in tho history of the defalcations. It would bo a very bad thing if it ehould go out among young men in publio and private services here, that a man had eecupod punishment because of hi* past good character, and, for such reasons as had been urged that morning, that thoeo young men were cxi posed to temptations as great as the ?w£L *&* been the P ractic * *f ! the Courts seldom to orerlook matters of that sort because punishment, or what was called punishment, must be treated as exemplary in a community I liU.onrs. Hβ could not, therefore, pass over the accused's case without inflicting punishment. Hβ intended, however, to make that■ punishment as Jenient ac he could in the circurasteKces booause he recognised the way m which the .accused" was beset by temptations, which he really wished to resist, and he also recognised the suf-

ferirgs th© accused had undergone since. Nor , did 1 ' he intend that ' the - circnmetanore connected with Mclntyro'e leering th* country, and the fact that the Government had beea put to.. great expense in the matter should hare weight one way or the other. The Government would bare failed in their duty h|g they not brought him ■ back, but he wept away in open dayjight. and-that wae a matter subsequent t^oif 'offeaoe. He waa not there to nujujab'.aim'liaf that, but he could not/overlook \]Um fact that on several oooesions, soetoer than give up a poaition which he Qtifeht not to have taken in the circumstances, and instead of freeing himsslf from. his liabilities by means of,the Baufc*. ruptcy Court, which would have beea a perfectly honest proceeding, h* niet' his immediate needs by taking public money. At a later date, in order to tide over a difficulty, ha perpetrated frauds, however small they were, upo* tradesmen. Aβ he aaid, however, U should gire the maximum oozHudera*) tion to what the accused had under* gone, and to the fact that lie ha« long borne a good charaotor, but h* thought the least eentence that, he could impose was that, the accused should be imprisoned' for lour months with hard labour. > '