SUPREME COURT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 4

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SESSIONS. Thursday, AraiL 19. (Before his Honor Mr Justice Cooper.) EiTBESZI-EirEXT. TTiiii&m Jones TTiEisjasj who gave ni& age -•as 27 years, was< brought bsfore The ccurt for sentence on drarges of embezzling various sums of money, the property oi the Bank of I .New Zealand at Ophir. Mr Hanloa, yh.o appeared for ascused, said there was little he could say in extenatiqn of the ofidnce, but thei-e'were one or two ciroumstaneoff he would like to draw his Honor's attention to, which he might take into consideration in fixing a penaJh. Accused had be>en a bank clerk, as his .Honor would sse, and his defalcations amounted to something liko- £300. lie had been teller in the bank at Ophir, and had, of course, large sums of money I to handle. He was there, learned counsel j thought, for about four years, and frequently, j he having been in Ihe place for such a lengthy ! period, customers made it a practice — and it j was a very bed practice — to pay moneys to I him not at the bank, but in private houses, upon Ihe road, or wherever they happened to meeS him. That practice was adopted, and the money was put into accused's pockat, and sometimes, learned counsel was afraid, re- ; inline:! there. His trouble seemed to have ' arisen through taking shares in companies n-ji of -the be&t, which afterwards wen! into liquidation. He had not been able to pay the calls, and had borrowed the money to do so. Being pressed by the lenders of the money he had been tempted to appropriate some of the moneys of the bank, hoping to be able to pay it back. After he had appropriated the moneys , he paid back various amounts he had taken, ' aad had hoped lie would be able to pay off the whole, but, being further pressed, he fell further into arrear, and appropriated additional moneys. He had borne a good character and came of good' people, and was very much " cut up a. the position he now found himself ii Wli6n he was transferred from one bank j to another he applied for a week's leave, in | order that he might come down to Dunediu j to see the banking people and explain affairs. However, they srere unable to relieve him at the time, and all of the defalcations were discovered. He afterwards came down to Dunedra and made a clean breast of . the whole matter to one of his superior officers. He stated what his defalcations were, what moneys hs had appropriated, and what money he had paid back. He (learned counsel) had two or three certificates as -to the character of accused which he would hand to the court, and one of these was fi oni the Presbyterian minister at Alexandra. Mr Gilkison. solicitor, had known accused up country, and would testify as to what his character had been. Seeing the defalcations extended over such a lengthy period, he (learned counsel), could not ask for probation for accused, but after his Honor had read the certificates he would like him to extend such leniency towards accused as he could. Robert Gilkison, barrister and solicitor, deposed that he had been constantly brought into contact with accused, and while he had lived in the country accused had bsen a very steady young fellow. He had not seen him drink or gamble, and had found him to have an exceedingly amiable disposition. He thought his obliging character had helped to get him into -this trouble as much as anything else. He knew it was a common thing for customers in the country to give him a large sum of meney, saying to put it to their credit, and this put temptation in his way a-t time 3. When accused went to Ophir he had had to reside at the hotel, as there was no lodginghouse, and would have to sit in the one room, where people would come in and would ask him to drink and play cards. One could well see what that would lead to in course of time. He (witness) considered it very wrong for a young man to be left so long as four years in a place like that. Mr Macassey, who appeared far the Crown, said accused was a native of Neiw Zealand, 27 years of age. He had borne a good character previously, and he (learned counsel) thought Mr Haul on had placed the position fairly before the court. Accused eeemid to have got mixed up with raining shares, which accounted for L.13 present position. He had made a very frank admission of his wrongdoing. His Honor said it wa3 quite impossible for him to admit accused to the benefits of the Probation Act. In an exactly similar ca«e tha-t had come before Mr Justice Edwards, in » wihich a l>a,nk clerk haS cfinamjUed. embe^sle- I

——-——■=—- 1 ment extending over a considerable period, the j same circumstances had prevailed, and tha matter had been submitted by his Honor to tho judges, and they had agreed that & man who was placed in a position of trust and embszz'ed money belonging to his employer at various times, and for a lengthened period — '■ where it was not one theft committed under '. temptation — and .where m addition ho falsified . his books, the First Offenders' Act-did not * apply. It was no ' doubt a very unfortunate ; position accused was placed in, , and one could • not help fueling tha.t he had lost his character and fiis employment, frnt'""that. after all, was his own fault. He had been in a position of coEsi<Jerab!e trust, and' 1 had- committed these thefts, commencing in the year 1903, 'and had,, continued them up to the, very beginning of this, year. He had stolen from' his- employers tha sum of £317,. »Ad in the latter hs had written to the bank he had sta-ied that the causes of the embezzlement weae practically , three — first, share transactions, then gambling. , aud then extravagance. No doubt a young man in a district "- like Ophir v/as*placed ir. euvrcmndings which tested his honesty and strength of mir.d, but bis Honor iealsy could , nob see why a young man who had his future to consider, and was trusted by his employers, could not avoid temptation. , It was true living ia a hotel brought a youa'g man.. in contact with undesirable characters, and there aHcgeiher too much of this embezzling caused by gambling and extravagance. Continually during the last four or five years cases of a , similar kind had come before him, and that ; satisfied him that among a great many young men there was no desire to avoid temptation. In the first place a bank clerk had no business to be connected with, share transs-otions, in the second ifc was morally wrong for a young man entrusted with money to d-evelop a thirst for gambling, and in the third place — he must assume r.ccused had a s>ufficien.t salary to live * upon — accused should not have indulged iut [ extravagance. These three things had resulted ; in accused's present position. He (his Honor) ' had to administer the law, and had not only to ; consider accused's position, but • must con- i aider every young man in accused's position, j I ; they could carry on a systematic course c-f , theft for three or four years by the falsification of their books, and if it .w-ei»t forth it wa3 to bo treated as a merely nominal , offence, tben \ he vtas afraid cases of embezzlement, which i, wers numerous at the present time, would be ' vety much increased in number. ' He would j take into consideration ihe evidence of j character given, and the certificates handed ■ to him, but accused had committed a serious crime, and must suffer the penaUy^for it. He would not impose an" exceedingly, 'severe sentence, because he d6eire*ct"-;to givd " accused a chance of reformation' later on. He would sentence him to 18 v months' imprisonment with hard labour on each offence, the sentences to be concurrent. - THEFT TBOil A DWELLING. Harry Williams, alias Watson, alias Pinsborg, was brought up for sentence on & charge ! of theft from the dwelling-house of Sydney \ Smith, at Oamaru, of two JSS-notes. — Accused gave his age as 23 years. ilr Mncassey, who appeared for the Crown, said accused was a labourer, 25 years of age. He was born in England, aud arrived here , from South Africa aboi4 six, years ago. He J w-js reported to bs an expert thief and a dangerous criminal.' He ha-d been convioted in December. 1899, at Lyttelton, and received one month for theft; in. February, 1900, ha had, at Dunedin, received a. term of thres years for theft; at CJuristchurch in January, . 19C4, onfe month for -.theft ; and at the same plnce in February, 1904, two years for theft. Hi 3 Honor said Tt was quite clear . accused had entered upon a career^ of thieving. The police had ,been dogging , Iris footsteps,- and he (his Honor) • noticed he' said in the written abatement handed, up fehat they were preventing him getting an honest living. He (his Honor) did not know whether"'there was any truth in that statement, but. it wag not bis experience of the police. They had to keep an eye upon the man who had been convicted on. several occasions, but he had never known them throw obstacles in the way of a. man who honestly desired to lead a respectable life. Accused's reoord showed that since he had , returned from South Africa, he had been convicted upon many occasions, ftod although he said the police hid been dogging his footsteps he had obtained / employment with Dr ■ Macadam, who had kept him in his employ though lie knew of hia past. While in the doctor's employment accused had stolen from , a house two £5-notes. The theft was a. very . mean one, because accused knew the people, and Lad access to the house, a,nd took advantage of his acauaiotftsce wj£h a girj in &c

houss to get into ifc and steal this money The offence was a serious one, and he wraid sentence accused to three years' imprisonment in Dunediu gaol, with hard labour.