DOMINION NEWS

Grey River Argus, 17 March 1942, Page 8

DOMINION NEWS

THEFT BY SECRETARY. P.A. AUCKLAND, March 16. George Lampton Gladding, 63, accountant, for many years secretary to the Auckland Bowling Centre, who had pleaded guilty to theft as a servant, of over £2,678 irom the Ostend Road '.Board, in small sums over many years, was sentenced at the Supreme Court, by Mr Justice Fair, to four years’ imprisonment. Defending counsel said that Cladding otherwise led an exemplary life. The fact that the Road Board was on Waiheke Island, and Gladding, as secretary, in Auckland, led to the practice of the chairman and another Board member signing blank cheques, which the secretary filled in and signed vouchers. He was so popular among bowlers throughout the Dominion, that he was encouraged to live above his means. Though he did not drink, gamble, or live extravagantly, he lacked the strength of character to reorganise his life, and the discovery of the defalcations came almost as a relief. Two business men gave evidence of GJ adding’s sterling character. “This is the worst case of the kind that has come before me since I have been on the Supreme Court bench,” said the Judge. “Deliberate and long continued crime must be punished with the severity it merited, and the least sentence was four years’ hard labour.” SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS

WELLINGTON, March 15.

The Minister for Education (Mr Mason) announces that school committee elections are to proceed as usual this year. They are not comparable with ordinary local body elections, causing very little disturbance or distraction to the community, and the loss of time and the expense negligible. Mr Mason said the chief ground of objection seemed to be that a change of personnel might disturb the E.P.S. organisation, but it seemed to him that there 1 was really no reason why any change should of necessity involve a change in E.P.S. personnel, or introduce any element of difficulty. i