THEFT OF £8740

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21777, 28 July 1945, Page 8

THEFT OF £8740

TWO MEN GAOLED 2UYEAR TERMS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 28. A sentence of two and a half years' imprisonment with hard labour was imposed by the Chief Justice. Sir Michael Myers, in the Supreme Court yesterday on Lionel Clifford Nimmo. aged 36, auctioneer, and Clarence Tlaigh, aged 49. clerk, who were found guilty of theft as servants of £8740 Horn Townsend and Paul. Limited. Counsel. Mr. W. E. Leicester, said that for years both men had worked under a sense of grievance concerning their financial position with the company, and whether justified or not such feelings served to lower their resistance to dishonesty. r l'he Chief Justice said he was doing nobody an injustice when he said that knowing what happened in a case concerning an auctioneering firm some 12 years ago that a proper investigation should be made into tire practice they had heard something about during the trial to ascertain whether or not it was really honest and in conformity with the duty of the firm which had an auctioneer's

license. "It is all very well to talk about on costs, but one would like to know what these on costs really are,” he added. In sentencing the prisoners, the Chief Justice said it was a case of systematic theft from their employers over a period of eight years. The case was very much like that of a defaulting solicitor, who usually received three years’ imprisonment, but taking the jury’s strong recommendation to mercy into account he would reduce the term in each case bv six months.