COLLECTING METHODS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 126, 30 May 1928, Page 11

COLLECTING METHODS

MAGISTRATE STEPS IN (By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") AUCKLAND, This Day. Remarkable- facts wero disclosed when tho affairs of the Auckland Unemployment Committee were probed by Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., this morriing, on Roger James Coyle (32) pleading not guilty to charges of being idle and disorderly. ... Sergeant S. Brown stated ,that on 12th May he saw Coylo with a collection box at Carlaw Park, and questioned him aboilt his authority. Coyle said he was collecting for the ljneuiployed and produced his authority, containing the seal of the Unemployment Committee and the signature of the secretary, Mr. C. G. Lindsay. The accused was also collecting on 28th April, when', he produced a similar authority. His collection box was not secure, a piece, of papor being guinmefl over the hole, from which money could be cxtractod. On being interviewed Coylo said that he had no fix,od plaeo of abode, and that he first started collecting in October, 1927. Ho was told to collect hy Mr. Lindsay, and since then he had been collecting in the city and suburbs. As far as ho know nobody had any say except Lindsay, who seemed to run tho whole show, tho box being handed in to the latter/ every. _nighfc, Lindsay, handing. part of tho "proceeds to '. Coyle. The largest amount collected^ on any one day-was 455, and tho lowest 3s. Money often fell out of the boxes, but Coyle said he was too honost to put any of it in his pocket. Tho fact that hp had beon in gaol so ■of ten niado it difli- • cult for him to got work. Lindsay knew this, but told him to carry on. Senior-Sergeant Cummings stated that the Unemployment Committee was a self-constituted body, and had no authority from anybody to collect money. Tho Unemployment Committee .was authorised a year ago to make a one-day collection, aiid tho only money they collected they disbursed themselves, and it consequently carried no subsidy.. The secretary and six collectora wero drawing' a salary. Lindsay gave evidence that ho had not worked at his peculation of clerk since 1926, Ho last toiled at anything in August, 1927, when he camp from Arapuni. 'Ho took up tho secretarial dutios of the Unemployment Committee in tire following month, after £333 had bqen collected on 2Gth August in the streets. Ho was appointed secretary at £4 10s per week, and offices were rented, A .decision was made to continue collecting by a door to door canvass only. Coyle and bhe other coY lectors got no salary, being paid instead a percentage of tho daily, takings.. Since September.over £1000 had been collected, • not including the collectors' percentage or the £333 proceeds of tho street collection. Tho amount handed*in was".entered in a cash book, but no referenco was made to the percentage deducted. Thcro were four controllers, a man named Ongloy, a labourer; a motor mechanic named Agnew, an accountant named Phillips, and himself. Ongloy and Agnew were also collectors. Mr. Hunf described'tho book as show- ■ ing nothing, and termed it a disgraceful production. Tho charge against Coylo was dismissed. Mr. Hunt said: "Now that the mat-' tcr has been ventilated you should get somebody to place this committee on a proper basis. Get some responsible citizens, Lindsay. Why, money can rattle out of theso boxes; I've seen it myself." Mr. Hunt ordered the books to be impounded for tho new committee to see if the cash was all right.