BETRAYED HIS TRUST.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1193, 31 July 1911, Page 3

BETRAYED HIS TRUST.

SOLICITOR'S SYSTEM OF THEFT. "The suggestion .that this is a ease for probation is quite out of the Whatever the position of accused mi t M be, it.would be altogether wiong to treat as exceptional a series of thefts ex tending over a long .period. So sa.tl Mr. Justice Chapman in passing sem.nco on Arthur Harold Bunn, a solicitor «ho had admitted a series of thefts vlu.ch extended from the yoir 1909 until the present month, and which were commuted while accused was'in the employ of Moots. Bell, Gully, nnd Ccopor at Palmcrston North. Tbo defalcations totalled over .C'ZOO. , Mr. T. Young, who appcacd for ir.e accused, said the latter was a young man of previous good character. He was a good clerk, hail been seven years in the laiv, and bv his diligence had qualified as a solicitor. His salary until recently hail only been .£IOO a year, and as lie had to* contribute towards the support, of his met her and sister ho had considerable difficulty in keeping his head above water. Laxitv in the ma<i\Rcri;cnt of the cilice had contributed to the offence. Accused was givjn lumn sums o{ money to disburse at the beginning of each week, and had to account for it at the end of the week or month. Having a considerable struggle to keep things going at home, the temptation to use the money was very great. Accused gavo vav to that temptation, and when the time came folium to account for the money ho was unnblo to do so. j-j His Honour heta remarked that lie did not see what there was to complain of of laxity in the office. It was a case of trusting a trustworthy man as far as the office was concerned. Counsel submitted that although . the total atno mt 01 the thefts was great it . was reallv cue series, and lie suggested that accused might he admitted to probation. He neither drank nor gambled. His relatives had guaranteed repayment of the morcy to the firm, and the fact that accused would lore his certificato to praetiso was in itself a very great pnuishmont. „ '•Probation has never been applied, stated his Honour, "where there was a Ion" series of systematic thefts. I am verv sorry indeed to have to sentence a voung man to ironrisonnient. especially considering what it involves but T cannot abstain from doing S3. Tt is a very painful thing to me. and to the members of the Bar r.ow listening to me, but 111 other caee? I have sentenced men who took monev under pressure of need—which does not appear, to have been the case I lcrc -to terms of imprisonment. A senlenre of imprisonment is more necessary here because you belong to a profession that is habitually trusted with ether peoples monev and trusted in a great variety of ways. 'You have betrayed the trusi of your emnloyers. who relied 011 your honesty up to the last. Somebody always has to be trusted in a solicitor's rflW. and no one ha- a right to c.unnlMn that lie has Miff-"-"'! Vesmire sufP-ieiit cherk < iv,rot. nlneed upon him. For the reo- . son that you are a younrr man_ T will J make tlte sentence a chort one. "Son ivtll I be fenetneed to twelve months' imprison- ■ meat witii hard labour." nOTJSKTHSBAKTXG. Harold Spencer, who broke into a dwell- | ij ing-hou.-o in Lome Street, ami stole cerii tain articles therefrom, handed a letter 1] up to the Judge in response to the riuos,l turn as to whether he had anything to say why sentence of the Court should inot be passed. Mr. Neave said that accused was a labourer. '21 years of age, and a native of New Zealand. There were nine convictions against him for pelfy thefts, two lor disobedience of a maintenance order, one for vagrancy, and two for drunkenness. According" to the police report, he was addicted to drink, ami his general character His Honour considered that prisoner's excuse, that the olYeiices were committed | while he wns under Ihe influence of drink, j] could be taken into account. The case B came within'the class of these which lb*

Legislature hoped to reform. Prisoner could have been sentenced as a habitual criminal, but his Honour tluught that the proper sentence was six months hard labour, to be followed by fjv.r years detention for reformative purposes. tl v;ould depend oil the prisoner's behaviour as to whether he was released earlier or not. He. was a young man, and no doubt the l'ri.-ans Board would give liis case favourable consideration.

"WANTED, A PICK OF I'KISONS. George .M'JJonahl, who was bronchi forward i'cr bciiti'ncc on a chargo ol blse pretences, stated Dint ho h-.id nothing to rav, except that he hoped his Honour would sentence hini to prison other : than Wellington, lie could not get 011 1,1 i the "Wellington Prison, where he was not treated as a prisoner at all. LaM Wednesday, ho said, when he arrived al the Terrace, he asked i'or a towel to wa*h Jus face. Subsequently ho saw tho A isiting Justice. and the latter ordered that a towel should be given to prisoner, but he had not got it yet. Alter further remarks, accuscd said it seemed as it tho warders wore trying to keen hiui down. f "1 can't give you a pick of prisons, remarked his Honour. t "I don't want, a pick," interposed the prisoner, "anywhere but "Wellington." The Judge said prisoner would he sent to the Wellington Prison, and very probably transferred somewhere else alter a period, but not for the reasons prisoner had given. Over a course of years, prisoner had systematically pursued a earcer of crime until now there were something like a dozen previous convictions against him. The short sentences he had received had. been useless, as whenever accuscd got out of gaol he committed the same class of offence. Ho was a source of danger to the community,' and would be sentenced to twelve months' hard labour, with five years' detention for reformative purposes.

ADMITTED TO PROBATION. Stanley M'Burney, who had pleaded guilty to a charge of had nothing to say v/hen brought forward .for sentence. According to In? policc report, the prisoner was a Xeiv Zealander. ,'!0 years of age, a labourer by occupation, and-was said to be a. pood worker. He was' married, with a wife and three children. There were no previous convictions against him, but he had besn ordered liy the Court to pay his wife 30s. a week maintenance, having deserted her. "Will you be able to go back to your work?" inquired his Honour. "Yes," was the reply. "1-on say you have saved your money to pay Mr. Fell; have you got that money now" was a further question by his Honour. The prisoner said .he had sent the money to his wife. Jlis Honour said it was very seldom that lie sentenced a man to probation for forgery, but he would accept the statement, that accused prepared the bill, hoping to get the correct signature, and that the offence was tho result of a sudden temptation. His Honour then questioned accused ns to what he attributed his lapse and accused replied mostly to drink. Ho was admitted to probation lor throe years, prohibited for that term, and ordered to pay l.>s. a month to the probation officer in repayment of the money obtained by the forgery.

MAGISTRATE'S COURT. (Bcfo-c Mr. W. G. Riddell.) For loitering and accosting passers-by in Victoria Street, Jiimiie Drown was sen:eu '.ed to one mouth's imprisonmeni. For drunkenness, John lirady was fined

20.-., in default sew «. uny*' imprisonment. A iir-l oDVntl'.-r win convicted mid discharged. Henry Burnelu a sailor, fined 111-, and required to pny J---. witnoM'-' p:*ikes for milking «nt on Clwrle.* Willium Bak<T, nirither seafarer. Tlie alternative fixed was three day.' imprisonment. An iippliention for a pawnbroker';; Ikvuv.' was mad<* by Abraham Hnr>ht : and granted b.v tb.*» Court.