ALLEGED THEFT

Hawera Star, Volume L, 25 September 1930, Page 9

ALLEGED THEFT

CHARGES AGAINST STEWART

LENGTHY HEARING CONTINUED

VCGUSED’S STATEMENTS TO POLICE.

After protracted proceedings occupying the whole of yesterday and this morning, the hearing of evidence in •'he charges against Donald Alexander Stewart of the theft of £328 16s 7d as a servant while clerk of the Norinanby Town Board, and also charges of iailin<r to enter monies received, wa,s continued in the Hawera Magistrates Court this afternoon before M©ssi s H. Dixon and Cl. A Burgess, J. sP. At the luncheon adjournment the police case was concluded, hut Mr L. A. laylor, for accused, said it was lus intention to call upon accused and his wife and two other witnesses to give evidence. Resuming his evidence, H. L. Marbrook, Government audit inspector, was asked by Mr Taylor if it were not a fact that Stewart had not tried to cover up his tracks. Witness: 1 am unable to say whether there was intent or not, other than that I cannot accept the loss of the obsolete receipt book. . There may have been other receipts issued from the same book, but I have not been able to trace any more.

Witness added that Stewart could not balance his books correctly. The point about entering the Treasury vouchers was that it would have assisted! him' in a balance, and the omission of the Treasury, entries made the balance more difficult.

At the last audit, said witness, lie had i pointed out to accused that he had failed to draw a month’s salary in 1927. The probable reason why Stewart had used the obsolete receipt book was that it was at the house and the other was at the office. To one who appreciated his duties that should not have been done.

Re-examined by Detective Meiklejohn, Mr Mar brook stated that the failure by accused to make correct entries in the cash book was not for the purpose of getting away with that money. It would tend, however, to cover up the absence of other sums. As Stewart had been clerk of the board since 1914 it would be expected* by 1930 that he should know his work. Accused handled about the same figure each, year, yet prior to 1927 his deficiencies were very small in comparison with those in 1930. so that the shortage of £32S between 1927 and 1930 was rather astounding considering that roughly he had handled the* same amount per annum. In the aggregate the annual turnover handled' by accused was approximately £I2OO.

ACCUSED’S STATEMENTS

Detective Kearney detailed having interviewed accused, and produced two statements made by Stewart on August I and 22. In the first statement accused said he had been clerk to the board since 1914, commencing at a salary of £4O per year, which had been increased to £3O per annum. He was 58 years of age and had received a fifth standard education. He had never learned bookkeeping, and up to 1902 was a ploughman. Since he had been clerk to the board he had never drawn up an annual balance, but had always left that for the auditor to do. The office hours of the board were supposed to be between 1 p.m. and 3 pan. on Mondays, but, as a rule, the residents had never taken advantage of those hours, and he had collected most of the money at his house, sometimes in the street. Generally the latter would have receipts posted them. Sometimes people would call at his house during his absence, when liis wife would receive money and usually give a receipt, but if she did not do so she would notify him. He had just banked at random anti had left the balance for the auditor to fix up. Ho would make a rough guess of the amount he would need to bank, and would on some occasions use liis own cheques and money to make up what he thought would he required to balance the board account. There had been occasions some years ago when he had over-banked and be was then acting oil the same principal. There was a. deficiency or £39 18s 3d in the April, 1927, audit. From 1927 until 1930 he had carried on the same principle and had been simply astounded when he found there was a deficiency of £287 15s 3d, and he had later been informed that the total deficiency was £327 Is sd. He was unable to say how the deficiency had occurred, and as far as he could remember had never paid a board cheque into his own account. He had been careless with the board money ; sometimes he would carry it round in liis pocket, sometimes he would leave it in an unlocked cash-box, and occasionally some money would be left in a silver cup on a mantelpiece in liis home. He had not locked any of the money in the safe at the Town Hall because most of the people had paid at the house, and he would say that during this>- last three years there had not been £SO paid at the house. He was quite satisfied that all the amounts had been received as were shown by the duplicate receipts and cash book. In reference to the apparent irregularities in the cash book he could only say that those had not been deliberately made, but had come about through his lack of knowledge of book-keeping. He would be able to raise the amount of the deficiency.

In his second statement accused said) that he had been shown a list of beard cheque® that had been paid into* his private account between April 1, 1927, and July 31, 1930. His explanation was tiiat the. amount represented by the cheques were paid by him in cash in the first instance. He would then draw a cheque* on the board account when the meeting was held! and would jay the. cheque into his account. He would always get a receipt for the amounts he paid* in cash. When he had paid the cash out he had thought it was liis own money, but it appeared to him now that he had been paying out Town Board money all the time or some* of the time, and drawing a cheque as well. He* was not aware that he* was ’laying people with Town Board cash and then drawing a cheque, and he had not done so* intentionally. In October, 1929. lie had received a cheque* for £2O for the lease of the Normanby Domain. This he had paid in mistake to the credit of the Town Board account. On June 12. 1930, lie had drawn a cheque on his own account* for £2O and had paid it to the credit of Domain Beard. Then, to adjust his own account ha had paid a cheque for £3O Is 4d for rates to his own account against a cheque lie had drawn. He had never dreamt there was anything criminal about paying the rate cheque into his own account. He knew there would be < balance of £lO Is 4d of Town Board’s each in his account and 1 he was waiting to find out the correct position from the auditor so he could adjust it. The £297

he had banked in cash to his own account- had been made up of rents and sales of stock and poultry. As* he had been careless with the board’s money, there was every; possibility that some of the board’s money had l been paid into his account unintentionally. With reference to the issue of receipts from the old book,’ accused stated, that he had had that book at his house and had later entered the amounts in the correct receipt book, tearing the original receipt out- of the proper -book. He had not seen the old hook sine© foe (had. left ;t at the Town Hall. He did not know what had happened to the Treasury idvices. „ ... This concluded the case for the police.

EVIDENCE OF MRS. STEWART.

Through Mr. Taylor, accused then pleaded not guilty and elected to give, evidence.

Edith Alison Stewart, wife of accused* said that* entries: she had made in the books had been done at the dictation of her husband. For 15 years after their manage 30 vears ago, her husband had been unable to: work, and had had to have special food. He was very forgetful during the whole of that period and was constantly under the care of medical advisers. Twenty-four years ago she and her husband had come* to Norinanby, Mrs. Stewart opening a confectionery shop, while Mr; Stewart bad “pottered around.” When the clerkship of the hoard had 1 become vacant three members of the then board had asked him to* accept the position*. Stewart had said that fee bad no* knowledge of book-keeping and did* not think he could undertake the work A Mr. Robinson had offered to go bond for Mr. Stewart for five years, and finally he had been talked into accepting the position. All the entries in the board’s cash book up to the time* of the first audit were made by witness, with the exception of three or four put in by the audit Although Mr. Stewart- was town, clerk,' she had always done the great majority of the writing. He was always taking money and (giving -receipts, out would dictate the book entries to witness Stewart attended 1 the board meetings and took rough notes of the board meetings, but witness would f-iways write up the minutes. She had an occasions attended* the hoard meet-n-gs in the capacity of clerk and had also drawn up cheques for signature! by the chairman and licr dins hand. Sihc iad found that she had had to* look after her husband in his work, and the -'fleets of sunstroke years -ago still had an effect on his memory. Her husband neither smoked, drank or gambled. Proceeding, Mrs. Stewart said thatshe had been confined to bed during the last three years for as long as three months at a time, her husband having to do the cooking* and washing, besides attending to the egg-laying competition md feeding of pigs and -poultry and milking. Having regard to* his condition of health, her husband was very much over-worked. , Most of the entries up to 1929 haa been made either by witness or her son, but in that year her husband had done them. She had always appreciated the difficulty they had had in keeping the books and had been compelled to place great reliance on the auditors. Although Mr Stewart was a newspaper correspondent, witness had always done the writing, and for the Horticultural Society and the egg-lay-ing competition as well. As a Justice of the Peace her husband was called upon practically every day and was regarded as a sort of “father confessor” to the township. He possessed the entire confidence of the residents of Normanby and frequently gave directions in the making out of land and income tax returns. Until the auditor had informed Mr .Stewart, witness had no idea of the shortage during the last three years. There was nothing in the house upon which the shortage money could have been spent, and she had not the least idea where the money had gone. Chairman, board members and ratepayers—all had been in the habit of coming to the house to pay rates. As far as the entries relating to the treasury advices were concerned she had no idea that it was an offence not to enter them.

Answering Detective! Meiklejohn, Mrs. Stewart said] she did not remember whether or not she had entered Treasury advices. She was not* a. good hand at book-keeping and her husband had not had the least knowledge of it. Detective Meiklejohn: Then, why was the money taken for the position? Mrs. .Stewart: The position was offered to help us in our financial difficulties and was accepted' against our better judgment. She could not account for the large shortages since 11927 except that she had not helped her husband. much during the past three years. During the past Id years* she had gained considerable experience from, keeping the books, but did not- think her husband had done. (Proceeding)