COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 23 February 1929, Page 6

COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE

THEFT OF MANAIA TOWN BOAIID F Urtß>B. EX-CLERK PLEADS GUILTY. At tlio Magistrate’s Court, Alanaia, yesterday, bexore Air. J. iUiuer, s.xvi., William. Joseph Badley, iormerxy town clerk at xManaia, was ciiargeu with tixat, hating received various payments m terms requiring niin to account tor tne same to the Manaia town ix-ua.ru, lie laded to do so, thereby committing tneit. The amounts involved and tne dates of alleged misappropriation were: 1.107, £6-1 »s yd (January i 8), £47 bs 3a (.March 3), £26 (.April no), £2 (dune 7), £2B ns (duly 20), £26 (September zU;; lynßj £4 (November lb;. ‘ hie was turther charged that between dune l, iv'Ai, and March 20, lyna,. having received certain moneys amounting to £l2 15s in terms requiring him to account for them to the Manaia Town hoard, he fraudulently omitted to pay the same into the Town hoard’s account and thereby committed tiieit.. The prosecution was conducted by 'etective A. h. Meiitlejohn, and Mr. A. A. hounett (New ldymoutn; appeared on behalf of accused. Alexander Bowie, snaremdher; residing at Auroa, deposed to paying to tne accused on November iu, 10x8, the sum ot £4 iu respect of tnree plots in the Manaia cemetery. Payment was made by a cheque for £o, witness receiving £1 in cnunge. Harry Hoimes, licensee of the Manaia Hotel, stated that on danuary IV, 192/, lie paid the sum oi £B4 8s Vd to the accused for rates. Accused gave ium a receipt; for the amount. Apart Irorn accused's connection witn the alleged ohences, witness had always regarded him as a genuine, straightlonvard man and a good servant to the Town hoard.

J. D. Robertson, secretary to tiie Manaia Band, gave evidence of having paid accused £2 on June 7, i9zß, on behalf of the band. Accused issued a receipt for the amount. donn Barker, contractor and-farmer, Otakeho, said he paid to accused the sum of £44 14s 2d on April 2b, 1927. He received receipts lor minor amounts included in the full sum, but did not remember if a lull receipt was issued; if so, he had lost the receipt. A month later he paid 10s to square his total indebtedness of £45 4s 2d to the board. Edward dohn Massey, licensee of the Commercial Hotei, Manaia, deposed to paying accused, by cheque, the sum oi £47 bs bd for general rates. Witness did not remember getting a receipt; n he did he could not now locate it. Accused had boarded with witness lor two years. He had known accused ior ten 1 years and always held him in high esteem.

Louis George Simmons, picture theatre proprietor, stated tnat he leased the Manaia town hall from the Town Board and paid his rent by cheque monthly to the accused. He remembered accused severing his connection with the board, just before which witness checked his rent account with accused, the latter saying he appeared to be six nights out, representing .the sum of £i2. John William Clements, local manager for Newton King Ltd., said that on September 20, 1927, a cheque ioi £26 was paid to accused on account of rent. On July 7, 1928, a further sum of £2B 2s was paid in respect of rent and bowser license. On July 20, 1928, a cheque for a similar amount (£2B 2s) was drawn on the hraTs Hawera account and paid to the Manaia 'Town Board. The busiuess ol the Manaia branch was controlled by the Hawera branch, at which Mr. Henderson was accountant and signed all cheques. Witness did not know why the second cheque for £2B 2s was drawn. Harry Latchford Mar brook, Government auditor, gave evidence of conducting the audit of the Town Board’s books and discovering discrepancies in entries made by accused. in regard to the receipt of the two cheques lor £2B 2s issued by Newton King Ltd., witness said he pointed out to accused that only one had been entered in the 1 cash book, and that it was obviously 1 a double payment, of one account by the firm in question. Accused said lie •intended refunding the sum of £2B 2s to Newton King Etd. Witness found that a Newton King cheque ior £26 was banked to the credit of the Town Board on September 26, 1-927, but no entry in regard to this amount was made in the cash book. He also drew attention to an account for £52 against Newton King Ltd., on March 27, 1928, and inferred that tne amount had been held over until that time. Witness spoke to accused in reference to a cheque for £l6l drawn on accused’s private account and paid into the Town Board’s account on MarcU 31, putting it to him that the cheque had been paid in to make up the deiiciency represented in the payments made by Messrs. Massey, Holmes and Newton King Ltd., and sundry cash. Accused admitted that this was the case. Witness further pointed out to accused that sundry booking in the Town Hall register did not agree with a booking list submitted by Mr. Simmons, the lessee. Accused admitted a deficiency of £lO in the hall bookings in May 1927, agreed to pay in the amount and aid so. The accused said A. Bowie’s payment of £4 was not accounted for to the Town Board, and an amount of £2, for which a receipt was issued on September 20, 1928, was not paid into the board’s account until December 20. The sum of £l3 4s 2d in Parker’s account for £44 14s 2d was accounted for on tlio date of receipt of the cheque and banked with a Newton King cheque for £36, the latter amount not being entered in the cash book. Amounts of £l2 15s and £4 were the only ones not accounted for' and witness was not aware of any record of restitution of this sum (£l6 15s). The accused had stated by letter that he would make good any shortage upon demand. Throughout the proceedings accused had made no attempt to evade examination or to throw suspicion on others. In answer to Mr. Bennett, the witness said that voluntary refunds before prosecution in cases of defalcations affecting local bodies, were, in his experience, not frequent and at the same time not unusual.

Henry Mead', chairman of the Manaia Town Board, said lie was present at an interview between the auditor and accused on December 18, 1928, when a receipt from an old, longdisused book, issued by accused, was produced, and the assistant auditor (Mr. Hay) asked if any more receipts taken from disused books had been issued, to which accused replied that there were not. Mr. Hay then produced another receipt issued by accused (exhibit E), and taken from a book which had been discarded for some years. Witness had been a member of the board for three years and accused held the position . of town clerk for nine years. At witness’ request, accused tendered his resignation at mid-day on December 20. Charles Alfred Lawrence Smith, manager of the Bank of New Zealand, Manaia, deposed to the existence of separate accounts at his bank in the names of the Manaia Town Board and

W. J. Badley, and to the payment ot cheques (produced) to the credit of the Town Board by Badley in January, March April, July and September, 1927, and March, 1928, tho last-men-tioned payment including a cheque for £l6l drawn on Badley’s private account. Arnold Bell Meiklejohn, detective, stationed at New Plymouth, said lie interviewed Badley on February 6 and informed him that he would be charged with the theft of £B4 8s 9d, the amount of Holmes’s cheque, and he would like him to clear up some other matters. Badley admitted having made use ot cheques for £47 6s 3d, £26, £2B 3s, £4, £2, and £l2 15 s until he had refunded them. Badley did not remember having banked a Newton King cheque for £26 on the cemetery account. He may have done so. If so, it was in lieu of cash. In reference to a shortage of £l2 15s in the town hall hire account, accused said lie had gone through his books with Mr. Simmons and reckoned there was a shortage of this amount.. This closed the case for the prose!cution, and Mr. Bennett said he did not propose to. defend. Accused pleaded guilty to all charges and was committed to the Supreme Court at New Plymouth l’or sentence. BAIL ALLOWED. Bail was renewed in accused’s personal bond of £250 and two sureties of £125 each.