THEFT CHARGES.

Wairarapa Age, 5 May 1934, Page 6

THEFT CHARGES.

BRILLIANT CABEBB ENDS IN COURT. GOLD BAND TAXI CASE. CHRISTCHURCH, May 4. In the Supreme Court to-day Leslie Cecil Johnson, aged 53, former accountant and organiser for Gold Band Taxis, was sentenced to two years’ reformative detention on four charges of theft of moneys belonging to the proprietor. * Counsel for the prisoner said that Johnson was educated at Newington College, Sydney, and had had a brilliant commercial career. At one time he was chief accountant in Australia for the Phoenix Assprance Company, and later he founded the well-known accountancy firm of Johnson, Johnson, and Edwards. When he retired he was worth £40,000. This he lost in business enterprises, including the failure of the first taxi firm in Sydney. Later he got into trouble in Wellington, but afterwards was prominent on the West Coast and in Christchurch. His salary with Gold Band Taxis was inadequate, and he yielded to the temptation provided by the loose business methods of the office.

Mr. Justice Johnston said that the case gave him great difficulty, because the prisoner’s education and qualifications, and his ability, made him a menace to the public unless he were honest. If he sent him to reformative detention the matter of his sentence could be reconsidered at a later date. Addressing the prisoner his Honour concluded: “I have your record before me. You were convicted of false pretences and forgery in Wellington and fined £5O. You were also fined £5 for theft in the Magistrate’s Court. I be- ( lieve tha# on the previous occasion you refunded the money, and it is possible you would do so this time, but I do not think I would be doing my duty to the public if I allowed you the benefits of probation. On the other hand, you are a man of 53, and so much depends on your own behaviour that I do not want to give you a long term of imprisonment without the possibility of review. If I send you to reformative detention the matter can be reconsidered. Of course, I cannot give you an inadequate term.”—(P.A.)