FAILURE TO ACCOUNT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 68, 22 March 1939, Page 5

FAILURE TO ACCOUNT

SWIMMING CLUB FUNDS SECRETARY PLEADS GUILTY TO A CHARGE REMANDED FOR SENTENCE Charged with failing to account for £99 9s 9d, the property of the Fordell Amateur Swimming Club, Walter William Gordon, a single man, aged 27, pleaded guilty in the Police Court at Wanganui yesterday, and was remanded for sentence to the next sittings and the Supreme Court, at Wanganui, in May. The money involved was raised by a successful competition promoted for swimmers and lifesavers and the amount named in the charge represented the Fordell Swimming Club’s share of what had been realised. The case was heard before Messrs. E. F. Liffiton and Peter Lewis, Justices of the Peace. Detective J. Murray prosecuted, and accused was represented by Mr. C. N. Armstrong. The charge was: That at Deniair between October 1 and December 15, 1938, he received from William Green and others, sums of money, totalling £99 9s 9d in terms requiring him to account for it and pay it to the Fordell Amateur Swimming Club, and the he fraudulently omitted to do this. ■ Accused’s Secretaryships Accused, giving evidence on his own behalf, said that he had been secre- , tary of the Deniair section of the New Zealand Workers' Union for 21 months, secretary of the Fordell Amateur Swimming Club since its formation until the time of his arrest, : secretary of the Wanganui branch of the Spanish Aid Committee, secretary of the Deniair section of the Public i Works Medical Association, secretary for three years of the Board of Judges and Examiners of the Auckland Surf Life-saving Association, secretary of the Auckland Central Baths New Zealand Labour Party Queen Carnival Committee, secretary and records clerk of the Auckland Swimming Centre's handicappers’ committee, secretary of the Makatiko Cricket Club, secretary and assistant scoutmaster of the Waitotara Boy Scouts in 1929-30. secretary of the sub-committee of the Wanganui Central Amateur Swimming Club in 1937 for the purpose of raising funds (nearly £5O being raised), and secretary of the Deniair Benefit Committee in 1937. There had been no question as to the finances of those various bodies. This was the first occasion there had been any trouble. A Competition Organiser. Charles Arnold Palmer, a vice-pre-sident of the Wanganui Swimming Centre, said that in October last he organised a competition on behalf of the clubs affiliated with the centre and the Castlecliff Surf Section. Representatives of the clubs were given book's of tickets to sell, the arrangements being that the club were to retain 15s of each £1 and remit 5s as expenses. Accused, who was secretary of the Fordell Swimming Club, was given 450 books of tickets. The demand lor tickets exhausted the number of books and a second competition was launched, it being arranged that clubs should retain 10s of every £l. Accused was issued with 560 books of tickets in this competition. Witness said that the sales of tickets by the Fordell Club aggregated £l5O 4s 6d. Accused had remitted to witness the club’s expenses in both competitions, the expenses in the second competition being 7's 6d to the £1 and not 10s as expected. The balance for I the Fordell Club was £99 9s 9d. Witi ness handled none of the £99 9s 9d which was retained by accused as the representative of the club. Accused had never remitted any money to be placed at the credit of. the Fordell Club nor had the Wanganui Swimming Centre received any portion of the £99 9s 9d. Cross-examined, witness said that accused was a keen and efficient organiser and had given considerable assistance in promoting the competitions. The sales through his agency were largely responsible for the success of the enterprise, at least 95 per cent, of the profit of £99 being raised through accused's agency. Fordell President’s Evidence. William Martin Green, farmer, said he was president of the Fordell Swimming Club. Accused was an energetic secretary and thorough in his work. Accused had said that the competition money would be pa-id to Mr. Palmer and held in trust by the Wanganui Swimming Centre. Witness said he had received eight books of tickets from accused. These he sold and handed to accused £l. He had been led to believe that the club would receive £99 15s 6d and witness said he had paid this to Mr. Palmer and that it was being held in trust by the Wanganui Swimming Centre. At a meeting on January 16, 1939, accused was asked when the £99 15s 6d was to be paid to the club. He said the Central and Taihape clubs had not furnished their correct returns and that a correct balance-sheet could not be made. At this same meeting the committee gave a donation of £lO to assist accused with his expenses to the New Zealand swimming championships at Invercargill so that he could represent the club in th® diving. The money also was a mark of the club's appreciation of the good work he had done in the competition. Witness authorised the treasurer to issue a cheque for £2l 5s 7d, being the £lO which had been voted to him and £ll 5s 7d for out of pocket expenses. On February 2. 1939, accused had come to him and said that there was not enough money in the bank to meet the cheque. He asked accused where the £99 15s 6d was and accused said that he was going to see Mr. Palmer and ascertain why it had not been paid in to the bank. Witness told accused . not to cash the cheque until the £99 15s 6d was paid in to the bank. On February 23 a meeting of the’ committee was held when accused was again asked about the money. Again he said that the money was held in trust by the Wanganui Swim-

ming Centre and that the Taihape and Central Clubs were causing the holdup. Accused said he had not cashed the cheque for £2l 5s 7d. Later he found that the cheque had been cashed on February 2 and had been endorsed by accused. At the meeting on February 23 it was agreed that funds were required at the bank to meet the expenses of a carnival to be held on March 4 and accused was appointed to see Mr. Palmer and endeavour to secure an advance of £3O from the Swimming Centre. A Cheque Dishonoured. On February 24 witness had authorised the issuing of a cheque for £l6 17s lid, believing that the £3O advanced had been obtained. As a result of inquiries he had made in Wanganui he ascertained that the cheque for £2l had been cashed on February 2 and that the cheque for £l6 17s lid had been cashed at the Maypole Stores and had been returned dishonoured. On March 7 witness received a 'phone message from accused and came in to Wanganui and picked him up. Returning to Fordell, where a committee meeting was being held, he asked accused where the £3O which was supposed to be banked was. Accused did not reply. Witness told accused that the cheque for £l6 17s lid had been dishonoured and told him that it had to be met on the following day. Accused suggested that he had £5 for sale of tickets for the carnival which could be collected. Witness said this money could not be touched. Witness asked why he had cashed the cheque for £2l 5s 7d and accused did not reply. Witness said to accused: “Wally, you are in a mess with your affairs?” Accused replied: “Yes. I am.” Witness said: “What have you dont with our money?” Accused said: “I have embezzled it” and slumped down in the car. He recovered and said, “Take me straight to my whare, collect my papers and take me straight to the police.” Witness decided to take accused to the committee meeting and asked him to come and explain matters. He said he could not face the committeemen and would stop outside in the < ar. Witness and a member of the committee had interviewed accused who said he was going to W’aikaremoana on March 6 and would make restitution with half of his wages. He said he would give a promissory note or an order on his wages until ’.be full amount had been paid off. He also offered a typewriter, tools and a car. Accursed Asked To Pay The Money. A meeting of the committee was held on March 2 at which accused was not present. Following the meeting, accused was approached and told that he was to pay the money by 4.30 p.m. that day or give himself up to the police. Later that day, about 5.30 p.m., accused and three of his work-mates waited on witness and two other members of the committee and asked that things should be held over as he might be able to find the money through his work-mates. it was subsequently decided to give him until noon on March 4 to produce the money. Witness sought legal aid on the morning of March 4 and a warrant was issued for accused's arrest. Cross-examined, witness said that apart from the present trouble he had no complaints about accused, who had been an efficient secretary. Dennis David Higgie, treasurer of the Fordell Swimming Club, corroborated Green’s evidence. Mr. Armstrong: Do you know whether it is an illegal competition? —I don’t know. Assuming that it was an illegal competition, and the figures were put through your books any police inquiry might come down on you.- Yes, 1 suppose it would. Witness said, in further crossexamination, that the whole matter was solely under the control of Gordon. “I suggest you were content to leave it in his hands because it was not officially recognised by the Swimming Club? Mr. Armstrong asked. Witness: I would not say that. Adrien G. Gover, of the Public W’orks Office, Fordell, a member of the Swimming Club committee, who had replaced the accused as secretary, said he had assisted in the sale of tickets in the competition, selling £2 0s 3d worth. He handed that money to the accused. After the competition closed the accused reported to the committee that the Fordell Club's share of the competition was £95 15s 6d an,d that that money was being held in trust by the Wanganui Swimming Centre. Witness was under the impression that when the whole .matter was finalised the money would be paid to the club in a Jump sum. Witness saw accused several times during the currency of the competition and he said that he had to remit money forthwith to Mr. Palmer. Witness was at the meeting of the committee \then a bonus of £lO was granted for accused's good services. Questioned by Mr. Green later as to why the money was not paid over to the club, accused said that the whole matter was held up because Taihape and Wanganui Central had not furnished their returns. He was instructed to obtain an advance from the centre of £3O. Seen later, the accused said that he had obtained that amount. On March 1 accused arrived at a meeting of the committee in Mr. Green’s car. “I heard Mr. Green ask him to come in to the meeting and accused said that he could not face the committee,” witness said. Accused was prepared to sign over half his net pay to make restitution, which would allow over £2 a week. He also offered his typewriter and tools with which to raise money for restitution. He was Nipry anxious to make restitution. On March 2, about 1 p.m., accused was told that he had to either hand himself over or find the money by 4.30 p.m. Workmates Offer Assistance. Workmates of the accused had asked if the Swimming Club would forget these troubles if restitution was made and witness replied that he was not in a position to say. Accused said he had no money to put forward and mentioned then that the police had been summoned and would arrive at any moment. Later, workmates of the accused waited on Mr. Green at his farm and made a strong plea for time. They thought that, given sufficient grace, the sum would be found. As a result of that

accused was given until noon on [ March 4 Io find Ihe money. Mr. Armstrong: The sum total of i all your negotiations was that. Gordon : was to account to you for the sum by ' 12 o’clock on the Saturday.- -To the ' club, yes. Do you know that he was pre- ' vented from that because a charge i had been laid before 12 o’clock on Saturday? Witness said that that was outside ( his scope. He knew that, there had been an agreement not to lay a com- 1 plaint before 12 o’clock, he knew i that had been done. Detective J. Murray said that he | was present on March 2 when accused and his mates made a plea for | an extension of time in which to find the money. said that, they would scout round and raise the , money. Accused was arrested on the ' afternoon of March 4. On March 13 accused, with his counsel, was shown the tally sheet produced and accused agreed that they correctly set out the sales of the tickets. It showed that a sum of £l5O 4s 6d had been received and of that, amount the Fordell Club’s share of expenses, £5O 14s 9d, had been paid to Mr. Palmer and that left a sum of £99 9s 9d outstanding. He agreed that that was the amount in dispute.

Accused Gives Evidence. Walter Wm. Gordon, the accused. said that when this competition first I arose he understood that the total • moneys received by the clubs was to be pair over to Mr. Palmer and that I he would remit the net profits to the club. That was what he, the accused had told the Fordell Club. Shortly afterwards he was informed by Mr. Palmer that that was not the arrangement and that the moneys were [ to be paid over as described. Mr. Armstrong: Unfortunately.! you did not tell the Fordell Swim- I ming the Club the change of arrange- ' ments?—No. With the result that you were left j with this money on your hands in your bank account?—Yes. I did tell the president early in the competition

(that I was holding the money. i What did he say to that?—He 1 o.k.’d it for the time being. i Later on you knew that you should I not have held the money in your own | account.?- Yes. I Accused said that he as organiser of the swimming carnival for Fordell, I had attended carnivals at Hawera, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Feilding, Christchurch and Invercargill or contracted swimmers at those carnivals. The idea was to encourage them to come to the For- ( dell carnival. This entailed consider- ; able private expense on his part. I Mr. Armstrong: So a good deal of I the moneys you have failed to account J for have been used in the interests of ! the Fordell Swimming Club?—Yes. ( The carnival was the biggest attempted in New Zealand and was a great success, so far as I know. Mr. Armstrong: To all these bodiet

with which you have been connected 1 1 has there been any question whatever about the finance? —This is the first : .ie there has been any question. ' Detective Murray: Had you made a claim for the expenses you incurred in travelling, you would have been , reimbursed?—l don’t know. , Have you made a claim?—Not to , date. The expenses were incurred unofficially. I was given a free hand to ; organise the carnival. A plea of guilty was entered and . ' accused was committed to the , | Supreme Court at Wanganui in May ' for sentence. Bail was renewed in the same terms as formerly, accused : to report to the police.