MOTIVE NOT APPARENT

Northern Advocate, 15 September 1932, Page 6

MOTIVE NOT APPARENT

THEFT BY EMPLOYEE. PROBATION GRANTED. j (Special to “Northern Advocate.”) ! •HAMILTON, This Day. ' “I am at a loss to discover the motive of the prisoner/' remarked' counsel in the Supreme Court today,, when Ralph Long, foriherly a Post and Telegraph emploj'oe at To Aroha, aged 31, appeared for sentence for appropriating £3 5/3-i, tlio property of the department. Counsel said prisoner handled hundreds orf pounds weekly, and this was the only defalcation after 14 years” honourable service. It appeared that prisoner started the practice of balancing his general account with moneys extracted from toll fees, and ultimately money found its way into Inquiry at the hospital late this from nervous debility and was then under a doctor for 15 months. His wife also had been very ill. In admitting prisoner to probation for one, year, Mr Justice Smith observed that theft by a public servant was far more serious than theft from a private employer. The offence seemed inexplicable. However, as the defalcations were very small and prisoner had ' made no offftrt to hide thenij probation would meet the case.