MAGISTERIAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LX, Issue 2691, 30 April 1898, Page 4

MAGISTERIAL.

TIMARU--Friday, April 29th. (Before Messrs J. Jackaon and E. Holdgate, J.Pa.) ALLEGED LARCENY. W. H. Percival was charged before the Stipendiary Magistrate in the morning with the theit of a cheque for £3 10s, the property of B. Hallenstein and Co. Mr Knubley appeared to prosecute and Mr Joyce (of Lyttelton) for the accused. Mr Joyce asked for an adjournment till the afternoon, aa telegrams were passing between the manager at Timaru and the firm at Dunedin, with a view to a settlement. Mr Knubley assented to the proposal. On the case being resumed at 2 p.m., the Stipendiary Magistrate being unable to ait, the case was taken by the abovenamed Justices, Mr White appearing for Mr Knubley to conduct the prosecution. Mr White stated that this was one of four informations of the same kind, the others being for smaller amounts. The accused was engaged in February last as salesman and canvasser, to travel round the district between Rangitata and Waitaki, to take orders and collect accounts. Whenever he had collected £4 or more he was to send it to the Timaru branch. On March 21st he received a cheque for £3 10s from a Mr Priddle, for an account owing, and thia he cashed and spent, and failed to account for, and when asked if he had received ib he denied having done so. It would be shown that he cashed the cheque and endoraed it with his own name " pro H.B. and Co." Beßides this cheque he had collected at lea3t £6 4s 9d which he had not accounted ■for. Mr Joyce applied to have the case dealt with summarily, but Mr White objected to this as the total amount embezzled was more than £10. The chairman aaid that the Bench would decide after hearing the evidence. G. S. Mackie, manager of the Timaru branch for the prosecutors , gave evidence as to the engagement of the accused aa above stated, at 25s per week wages, 10 per cent, commission on sales of machines and 5 per cent on other sales on the cash received, with an allowance of 20s per week for travelling expenses. He was to return to Timaru every Saturday and settle up. He started on his last round on March 25th, and waß not seen again till April 13th, when witness iound him at Pleaaant Point. He brought •accused to town and got some statements arom him, and he admitted having collected £5 4a 9d, and spent it. He made several promises to pay but kept none of them. He was specially asked about the ■cheque of Mr Priddle, and denied having received it. He also denied it in the presence of Mrs Priddle. Mr Joyce eross-examined at some length, to show that thei wage and allowances made the accused were insufficient to maintain him and the horse (the "horse was found by the firm), and also to show that accused had not received all his wages. The accused was asked to square up ; he might have said that if he got his wages he could do so, but he did not say so until there had been some threat of proceedings. Accused would aot have been prosecuted if he had told ihe truth, but he told lies about the •cheque. To Mr White : His engagement was from week to week and if it did not pay he could have given up at a week's notice. A. Priddle, farmer, Belfield ; Mrs Priddle, and W. Quirk, licensee of the Orari Hotel, gave evidence of the giving and cashing of the cheque. Mr Joyce asked the bench to deal with the case summarily and spoke at some length in favour of this course being Sollowed, and put the accused in the box. The accused described how he waa engaged, on a duty of which he had little or no experience. He found that it cost him more than he was to receive during the time he waa out, but he hoped to do "better when he became known to the peoole he had to deal with, and so he stuck to it. His expenßea were at the lowest £2 9s and at the highest £3 odd a week, and he had only a few shillings in hia pocket when he started. He admitted receiving the cheque, and aaid he denied having ifc in order to gain time to make up the other money tljat he had to account for. He thought he would have been able to square up if ha had been paid his wages, but the managei- insisted on his squaring up firat, while he demanded his wages first to enable him to do ao. He thought there was about £6 or £7 owing to him for wages, and he did not know how much for commission. In jeply to Mr White he said he had received about £9 from the firm, and had about £10 to account for ; that was £10 Sor seven weekß' wotk. Mr Joyce again urged the Bench to •deal with the case aummariiy, and Mr "White again objected. Mr Joyce suggested that the accused should be ordered to pay the amount of the cheque and all costs in this case, and he would give his guarantee that any balance due by the accused after the accounts were made mp should be paid. After eome consideration the Bench accepted this suggestion, giving accused a week in which to pay the amount in the present case, and in default of payment ordering six months' imprisonment. The costs include £4 4s Bolicitor'a lee. During the progress of the ease Mr Joyce animadverted on the prosecuting firm having sent out the accused, a young man without experience in the business, at such a low;rate of remuneration, expecting him to keep himself and the firm's horse on £2 5s a week ; and also a prosecution having been initiated for what was properly a civil claim. Mr White replied that if the bargain was a bad one, it was voluntarily entered into, and could have been terminated at a week's notioe, and that the accused's want of straightforwardness made a pro-

secution justifiable. Mr Joyce said that if the young man had communicated with his friends he would have been given the money necessary to square his accounts.