THEFT OF MONEY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 64, 17 March 1942, Page 3

THEFT OF MONEY

HELL-KNOWX AUKLAND .MAN GOES TO GAOL |(P.A.) Auckland, March 16. ■i George Lampion. Gladding,, aged ' 63, accountant, lor m:iny years secreI tary of the Auckland Bowling Centre, who had pleaded guill.y lo theft as a; servant ol over £267«S from the Os-1 I tend Road Board in small sums over i many years, was sentenced in the Sti- i pi-erne Court by ?Ir. Justice Fair to I lour years’ imprisonment. Defending counsel said that GJad- , ding otherwise led an exempiarj. i ■ life. The fact that the Road board was on Waiheke Island and Gladding, Uus secretary, was in Auckland, led to ■; the practice of the chairman and another board member signing blank cheques which the secretary tilled in . and signed vouchers. So popular | among oowier.s throughout the Do- : minion was Gladding that he was en--1 couraged to live above his mean.-. Though he did not drink, gamble, or live extravagantly, he lacked tiu strength of character to reorganise ! his life, and the discovery of the de- ! falcations came almost as a relief. H Two business men gave evidence of . Cladding's sterling character. .! "This is the worst case of its kin.; that has come before me since I have . been on the Supreme Court Bench,” j said the Judge. Deliberate and long- .: continued crime must be punished j with the severity it merited, and the '[least sentence was four years’ hard ’ labour.