TIME AND PAY SHEETS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 37, 12 August 1921, Page 8

TIME AND PAY SHEETS

CHARGES AGAINST ANDREW "■ -•' GIBSON TAYLOR

THE JUDGE'S SUMMING-UP.

„.•'His Honour Mr. Justice Reed and a )Jj|r.y of twelve, of wliick -Mr. A. L. -Uforris was foreman,, were engaged till a ■\ilte liour yesterday afternoon with the iwnsidenitkm of the charges of conspiracy to defraud laid against Andrew Gib•stnfc- Taylor, an ex-timekeeper in the ."eirfploy of the cargo department of the tftitibn Steam Ship Company. The 'tWEr^es "were ~basod oil ■ the ■■ allegations 'of the-'Grown .tyjat Taylor took advantage of hik! position to falsify -time-sheets by ;the entering. thereupon of four fictitious ■ifflfies, in respect of which wages totalJim» £154 18s lOd were paid out on befjau o f the.company, apparently through Sfßcers of the Waterside 1 Labour EmployVent Association. V'Mr. H. F. O'Leary, for the defence, 2{d not call'evidence, but addressed the ■Jsry at length, maintaining that the allegations of the Crown had not been substantiated. . ■ ;In summing up this morning,, his Honour said that "the case was import- ! «Nt to the country as well^as to the accused. The Crown alleged; that there had been conspiracy, and it could not be imagined that the ca.se was an isolated one. Before the accused was found guilty, however,, the jury must.be satisfied that there was no reasonable doubt of his guilt. The jury's duty to the country and to their oaths required, however, that if the evidence satisfied their consciences that without reasonable doubt the accused was "guilty of the crime of which he stood indicted, they should not allow, in any way, any feeling of sympathy or any other reasons to prevent them doing their duty and finding him guilty. With regard to the character of the accused,, his Honour said that the evidence, perfectly frankly given by Detective Nuttall, was that the accused's character was good. It should bo remarked that throughout this case the evidence of the police had been entirely fair to the accused person. His Honour said that he had had a ,vejy ■ long practice at the Bar in criminal .work, and it always used to be considered that if a police officer was asked as to an accused person's character, and answered "I don't know anything against him;" that was the most that might be expected. But they found greater fairness as time went on; and Detective Nuttall had made no such statement. He stated frankly that the accused's character was good j and j the jury was entitled to take that into I consideration. But at the same time it was' his duty, to inform them that in no case where an allegation involved a breach of trust did they find that the character of the accused was bad, or had ' been bad in the past. This was^ because a man could not obtain a position where he could commit a {breach of trust unless;" those. who appointed him ,Were satisfied that he was of good , character. , .' Continuing, his Honour . referred to the probability that others had been garty to ' the paying out of wages in respect of the allegedly fictitious names, for it .was, highly improbable that snch a" man as ""Taylor,' whpi; was thoroughly .well known'injihe-jjay-office, could have drawn",pay .firs); in respect of one name then of another. Everything .depended upon the original; pay sheets, and the only person who had any control of those sheets was the*accused; in fact, he had Complete control of them, and was solely responsible'for the entries thereon. The 6/ily source from which Taylor' could gfet information, as to, gangs was from the "foremen—for accused had no right to engage labour—but the foremen had stated that their gangs were full without the "supposed It. Hall, G. Hall/Holme^, and Wa1ker.:..,,,.... ■ "There were of course possibilities of mistakes in making \up the list," said ■ his Honour, "buff I ask'you to consider whether it .was possible for such mistaken entries to have been made 1 99 times'in the schedule."" .•.-.-, Reference was also made by his Honour to the unexplained disappearance of overr one hundred foremen's books, whioh had disappeared between the time when Captain Walton commenced his investigations and the day | when h.« serit. :f OE. the - books in f order that he might;;: carry his inquiries further, It/ was not shown whether the accused' had, had, any part in bringing about the disappearance, bn t the jury had to consider,—in" viw of all the circumstances of t&e case,.whether it was not possible that an examination of those books would->have revealed something more than -Was, shown by -the books which wer.e,,,iAyestigated.. It: was apparently to' someone's interest to see thai the lists disappeared. ■■ fit'is: suggested that mistakes have been made,", repeated his Honour, "but do you that that is a satisfactory explanation?. There is no evidence of mistakes,;.['and, the men who are ,al. leged^-tp. have' worked disappeared dirtctly inquiries"; w«r« commenced. Is it not the inference that these men had no actual existence? This case is not like the ordinary false wages-sheet case, where one man is responsible both for the preparation of the wages-sheet ami for the payment, of the money, and sl,mPty Jnaies out a false receipt' and pockets .the money. This is a more elaborateicase,• for it appears that.some ptasoil or persons in the- association's office were 'concerned in the miking of payments.of wages. Is it not the only conclusion .you* can come to that the false entries were made by the accused, and that as-»a result money would be paid to '&- person" or persons not justly entitled to it?" That the money was drawn was fully proved by the receipts in the office, and a the, jury was satisfied, as to.the previous >• points of the case, 'then it was.entitled' to infer that there most have 'be.'en &a arrangement between accused andi'some other person, or persons, either, in or outside the office. It: wojil'd be noted, that it was quite immaterial whether' the accused had dirawn the money or not, for even had he left the money iin philanthropic mood for any person/to E'ck up', he would still have brought mself within the charge. The natural inference was, however, that there \yas an intention of dividing the spoils. It: was for the jury to consider .whetherl the evidence of the Grown sustained the charges mad© against accused. His Honour referred to the very, able address made by counsel for the defence. The jury retired at 11.15 a.m. THE, VERDICT AND HIS HON-OURS-OPINION. • , - The jury returned to the Court at 1' p.m. with a verdict of not guilty," and his Honour, after a pause, formally discharged the prisfflier, and then, after another pa,use, asked: "Mr. Foreman, havo you any objection to telling me ow what grounds you have brought in»your .verdict?" . ' ■ • "On the lack of system in paying out —I don't know gust how to express,it— ,on the very lax system." His Honour, to Mr. Macassey: "I think that perhaps, when this class of ease comes up, it would be as well to apply for a special jury. It seems to me that the- jury haa not underetood the case." ' ' "It seemed to me that the case was exceedingly plain," answered tho Crown Prosecutor, "and one that thd jury could understand, but I thinic^tliatt it will be well to apply for special jari«fln each cases in the future." ;