CHARGES OF THEFT.

Putaruru Press, Volume V, Issue 178, 31 March 1927, Page 5

CHARGES OF THEFT.

EVIDENCE AT MATAMATA. Accused Pleads Guilty. Evidence in the case of the police v. James Cecil Phillips, on a charge of thefts from the Matamata branch of the Farmers’ Auctioneering- Company Ltd., was heard at Matamata on Friday before Messrs. T. J. Underwood arid W. A. Turkington, J.’s P. Accused pleaded guilty and was committed to the Auckland Supreme Court for sentence, bail being allowed for a surety of £3OO. James Jones, farmer, Okauia, said that on October 22, 1926, he paid the F.A.C. a cheque for £25 10s ; £2O was to be paid to the credit of his account. He had a cash sale for £1 7s lid, and the balance he received in change. The cheque produced was the one he paid to the company. He did not receive a receipt for the £2O, and nothing was said about a receipt. From tfie November statement he found that £2O had not been paid to his account. The following month the £2O had not been credited to his account, and he saw the accused, along with the manager. He told the accused that the £2O had not been paid to his account, and accused said that probably it had been put through somebody else’s account, and that he would fix it up. He paid the cheque (produced) for £6O, to pay the balance of an account for £54. That was on January 20. . He got the balance, £6, in change, and received a receipt for the £54, as produced. In the body of the receipt were the words “ fifty-four pounds,” and £75 19s 5d on the bottom' of the receipt, which was the £54, plus £2O that was not credited to him on the previous occasion, plus the discount of £1 19s 6d. He did not notice the irregularity in the receipt when he received it. It was the accused who gave him the receipt. He first noticed the irregularity two days ago. The acc :sed had no authority to convert any of the £25 10s to, his own use. The £25 10s was not paid to the accused, but to another member of the staff. Reginald Barkley, farmer, Walton, said that on 2nd of February, 1927, -he paid the accused the sum of £l4 in cash, in part payment for a mower that was purchased through the Massey, Harris Co., for whom the Farmers’ Auctioneering Co. were agents. He did not receive a receipt Lat the time, but received it by post, signed by the accused. He paid the cash to the manager. The accused was not present at the time. To the court: Witness paid Phillips -the money, whom he understood was • the manager. He would know the 'man if he saw him. “He is not present in this room. I do not see the jman in the court that I paid the //money to. The man sitting in the court whom I am told is the accused was not the man I paid the money ; to.” Detective Culloty said the question of identification did not affect the case. Mrs. Grace Gertrude Landsdowne, wife of F. W. Landsdowne, farmer, Te Poi, said that on 19th January she paid accused a cheque of £2O, being £ls for the Farmers’ Auctioneering Co.’s general Account, and £5 for Massey Harris. She received a receipt for the £ls, and a separate one for the £5. The cheque for £2O was debited to her husband’s account, in the Bank of Australasia. Three weeks after she received a notice from the Massey Harris people that the £5 had hot been paid. She saw Mr. Kusabs about it, and he said he would let her know about. She did not see accused about it, as he had met with an accident that morning. Detective Culloty, Hamilton, said he had interviewed the accused at the company’s office on 15th March, and shown the receipts, and asked how they were made up. The accused left the office. Archibald Hamilton McHaffey, merchandise cashier, for the Farmers’ Auctioneering Co. (Hamilton), said that on Wednesday 19th February 1927, he went to the company’s Matamata office to balance the cash. The accused had been the company’s bookkeeper for three years or more. Accused’s duty was to receive the cash and issue receipts, for the hardware and grocery departments. There was only one key to the safe, to his knowledge, which was in the possession of Constable Heeps when he arrived that day (19th February). At the end of the day the receipts would be balanced against the cash, and the bulk of the money lodged to the company’s account in the Bank of New Zealand on the following morning, and the bank slip sent to head office. I The witness went on to corroborate evidence given by the two previous witnesses. The total shortage was £305 19s 6d. The alleged thefts extended back for 15 months, and (Continued in Next Column).

were first detected on 9th February. Detective Florence Culloty, Hamilton, stated that he arrested the accused on the 11th March, 1927, at Putaruru on a charge of theft of £2O. Subsequently the accused made a statement, admitting the theft of £305 19s 6d.