Magistrate’s Court DEFENDANT FINED £l0 FOR WAGE TAX OFFENCE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28888, 7 May 1959, Page 9

Magistrate’s Court DEFENDANT FINED £l0 FOR WAGE TAX OFFENCE

■ The evening before a tax i inspector called to examine the wages book of Maurice Edward Victor Barnden, a drainlayer, it had been burnt, along with a number of other papers relating to the business, in a fire on the kitchen table, which was believed to have been started by a cigarette butt left by his son, according to evidence given by the defence in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Barnden, who pleaded not guilty to a charge of knowlingly applying £202 11s lid Social Security tax deducted from the wages of employees between April 1, 1955. and March 31. 1958. for another purpose, was convicted and fined £lO. He was represented by Mr B. A. Barter and Mr P. F. Feenstra prosecuted.

The defendant, who was a drainlayer in business on his own account, was charged with failing to account to the Department of Inland Revenue for wage tax deducted during the years 1955. 1957 and 1958, Mr Feenstra said. This tax had been assessed at £202 Ils lid and this amount was not disputed by the defence. “In the face of the evidence by the department the story that the wages book was destroyed the evening before the inspector called, is a most unlikely one," said Mr Feenstra.

Douglas Frank Carson, an inspector employed by the Department of Inland Revenue, said he was instructed to investigate the affairs of the, defendant and when he called on him he was told that the records of the business were in Dunedin but he would get them. This was on October 6. He called at the defendant’s home towards the end of October and the defendant produced some odd vouchers and charred cheque book butts but no record of wages paid and tax deducted, said Carson. The defendant had told him that the wages book had been burned completely in a fire the previous evening. The burnt records were of no use in connexion with the wages tax. Barnden said he began in business on his own account as a drainlayer in 1954 and had one employee. He deducted the wages tax and bought stamps at the post office and placed them alongside the name of his employee in the wages book. The evening before the second visit of the inspector he had been sorting out the papers on the kitchen table and went to bed about 10.30 p.m. His son Trevor remained in the kitchen. When his wife got up to i attend to the baby about three hours later she found the house full of smoke. The papers on the kitchen table were burning. The defendant produced the charred top of the table.

Ronald William Pickett, a drainlayer, of New Brighton, said he worked for the defendant for 12 months and signed the wages book every week. It contained wages stamps. He could not

remember definitely the size and shape of the wage book. Mathes Verkaik, a bricklayer, said he was employed by the defendant for four years. He left about a month ago. Verkaik said he remembered signing a wage book each week and crossing off a stamp beside his signature. The stamps ceased to be put in the book about 13 months ago, he said.

‘‘ln the absence of evidence from the person who was doing the defendant's books and the production of any remains of the wage book the defendant must be convicted,” the Magistrate said.

The defendant was a married man with eight dependant children, and had been prosecuted for not filing income tax returns, said Mr Feenstra. Income tax discrepancies had been discovered, but no action was being taken because of his eight children. ‘‘ln view of the circumstances the fine will be very much lighter than it otherwise might have been,” the Magistrate said. MOULDY SAVELOYS

A package of saveloys purchased from the defendant was found, when opened, to be mouldy, and when later analysed the inner skins of the saveloys were found to be covered with large amounts of bacterial slime, said Mr P. F. Feenstra, who represented the Health Department in a charge against Noel Albert Clausen, a butcher.

Clausen, who was represented by Mr A. C. Perry, pleaded guilty to a charge of selling food unfit for human consumption on January 21. He was fined £lO.

‘‘The defendant, in carrying on his trade as a butcher, should have been aware of the precautions and safeguards necessary in storing foodstuffs of this nature,” said the Magistrate. Mr Perry said the offence arose from ignorance on the defendant’s part in storing the saveloys overnight in a chiller instead of the freezing compartment. Saveloys were more susceptible to deterioration than other types of meat. The bacteria were not harmful —it was similar to that found in blue vein cheese—although it was agreed that the saveloys should not have been sold in the condition they were, Mr Perry said. REMANDED Eric Alfred Wahrlich, a workman, aged 40. was remanded to May 11 on charges of breaking and entering a shop of Ernest Adams. Ltd., Tay street. Invercargill. between February 11 and 14. and committing theft; wilfully damaging two panes of glass worth £5, the property of the Northern Bowling Club, Invercargill. between January 19 and 22; and failing to report to a probation officer as required. Sergeant E. S. Tuck, who asked for the remand, said Wahrlich had already appeared before the Timaru Magistrate’s Court, and had been remanded to appear at Christchurch.