COLLECTOR'S OFFENCES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21142, 28 March 1932, Page 11

COLLECTOR'S OFFENCES.

OMISSIONS TO ACCOUNT. PREVIOUS GOOD RECORD. MAGISTRATE EXTENDS LENIENCY. U I am satisfied tha£ this is not a case of embezzlement, and I am not prepaied to fine the accused or send him to prison, commented Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., in the Police Court on Saturday, when Richard Faulkner Lowndes, collector, aged 40, appeared on two charges of fraudulently omitting to account for £33 and £7 to the T. and G. Insurance Company. Lowndes pleaded guilty. Detective-Sergeant T. Kelly said the accused had been employed for 12 years by the company,, receiving per cent, commission on money collected and a percentage on new business in the place of a salary. Lowndes had converted to his own use and bad failed to account for £7 collected on February 8, and £33 collected between February 22 and February 29. The accused had experienced financial difficulty and had obtained assistance from a loan company. "The accused's furniture was subject to a bill of sale," Mr. Kelly said, and the moneylenders threatened to seize it. Lowndes used Ihe money he collected to pay the loan company and he subsequently told his employers the circumstances. He has been frank about the offences and has offered to restore the amounts. For the accused, a solicitor said there was no criminal intent about the actions of the accused, who was a victim of business depression. He had borrowed money on his furniture, and even after a considerable amount had been paid back on the loan tine furniture was seized. During the years of his service as a collector Lowndes had handled in excess of £50,000, and ho had always been strictly honest. Counsel mentioned that an extraordinary thing about Lowndes' position was that, in the event of a default in payment by an insured person for the amount of a, weekly industrial insurance instalment, the accused, as collector, was required to pay six times the amount of the instalment. Lowndes was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within six months, an order for the restitution of the balance of money owing being made.