CUSTOMS FRAUD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15535, 17 February 1914, Page 5

CUSTOMS FRAUD.

LARGE MISAPPROPRIATIONS. SEVEN MEN SENTENCED. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PEESS ASSOCIATION.] Chbistchxti.ch, Monday. Mr. Justice Denniston sentenced the prisoners concerned in the Customs fraud cases to-day. His Honour said the prisoners had pleaded guilty to a series of deliberate frauds against the Customs and their employers. They also admitted that they had been .guilty of a large number of similar frauds not included in tbs charges. These extended over a period of years, but the practice of destroying records every three years made it impossible to follow the frauds to their inI ception. It was quite clear that the system by which the frauds became possible had been in existence for many years, and the amount actually lost by the Customs was very large. -court did not propose to make the prisoners scapegoats for anything that was past, but must inflict substantial sentences. He had endeavoured to ascertain what extenuating circumstances existed in each case. Addressing John McCormick (Customs clerk), the Judge said frauds had been traced to him. in conjunction with C. R. Smith, to the amount of £4673. It appeared certain that these frauds went beyond three years. John Hill (Customs officer), who had been in the service seventeen years, was responsible for misappropriations amounting to £250 during the last three years. He was the owner of property of considerable value, the source of which was not explained. McCormick and Hill were sentenced to three years' imprisonment each. Ernest Walter Wood, who was responsible for the misappropriation of £2500 in three years, and spent it in self-indulgence, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Other sentences imposed were: James Campbell, Hugh Owen, and Francis Leigh, eighteen months' imprisonment ; C. W. Smith, twelve months; George Francis (who offended for a brief period only under severe temptation) was ordered to come up for sentence when called upon. Mr. Justice Denniston added that he would recommend that Wood, Campbell, Owen, Leigh, and Smith be sent to prison camps-