(published daily.) MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1887. COMMERCIAL MORALITY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6116, 10 January 1887, Page 2

(published daily.) MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1887. COMMERCIAL MORALITY.

Thr discovery of a series of defalcations by the late manager of a Wellington financial concern, and the subsequent action of the directors of that institution have been severely commented on by the press of the Empire City. The company was undoubtedly defrauded of a large amount by its lato manager, and the directors were made aware of the fact; but instead of giving the defaulter into custody on a charge of embezzlement, they compounded the affair, and took a sum of money from his friends and let the erring one go — at least they took no steps to prevent him doing so, and plainly told the shareholders they did not intend to throw good money after bad, by commencing an expensive private prosecution, The question arises, : why should such a prosecution be at • the cost of the defrauded share- , holders 1 If a vagrant steals a coat hung temptingly outside a clothier's shop, and is detected, the police run him in and prosecute him. Why, then, should they decline to do so in the case of a man who has stolen large sums entrusted to him by his employers ? It is because, as in the Wellington case, the man has powerful friends and has been known as "a good fellow." It certainly looks like it. Our readers will remember the ; difficulty there was in bringing 1 Waring Taylor to justice, owing to the same mistaken notion of leniency. \ At one time it seemed as though he ' was not to be punished for his gross r breaches of trust, and that his victims were to be left to mourn their losses ■ and see the man who had robbed them walk about unpunished. However, one of the defrauded ones set • tho law in motion, and Waring Taylor ; got his deserts j but the lawyer ' held the brief for his prosecution : earned the enemity of the prisoner's • many friends and connections, and ■ was made to feel in many ways that he had given offence in powerful quarters. The system of private pro- > secutions is bad, and wants looking into, as it opens the door to the compounding of felonies and to vindicative proceedings, as the case may be. We had a case here 1 where the secretary of a public com- ' pany had used the funds entrusted to his care for his private purposes, • whose friends " squared " the offence by paying up a portion of the deficiency. It was as clear a caso of compounding a felony as ever hapi pened, and reflected anything but credit upon those who took part in it. It seems that a man with powerful friends, who are willing to pay up some of his defalcations, may embezzle the funds of his employers, and go scot free in many cases, whilst some poor wretch with no one to buy him off, is sent to gaol for stealing as many shillings as his more favoured fellow-criminal has embpzzled pounds. We are told that the law is no respecter of persons ; but the veriest tyro in wordly knowledge knows better than that, as men in broad cloth commit crimes, and go unpunished, that men in fustian are sent to serve sentences of various terms for committing. The latest Wellington scandal of this kind looked very much as though the culprit were to be allowed to seek fresh fields and pastures new, as the company whose funds he had misappropriated would not move in the matter of bringing him to book ; indeed, he went away openly by a steamer bound for Melbourne, and was only arrested at the instance of his creditors, who could not stand his cool way of treating their losses by him. The low state of commercial honesty, disclosed by the facts of this case which have already been made public, is calculated to do much harm, and to cause honest men to suffer for tho Inches of their less scrupulous neighbours. From all we can learn the few disclosures that have been made in this caso are as nothing to tho suppressed ones, which are said to implicate many men of reputed respectability in commercial circles in Wellington, as it seems the delinquent was one of those goodnatured fools who aro ever ready to put their names on a friend's paper, to meet which they are tempted to "borrow" money without consulting its owners. There havo been several cases of this kind como to light in the colony of lato years ; one man ending his folly by destroying himself, whilst his friend walked about unburdened by any qualms of conscience Experience alone will teach silly people the folly of giving their names for " accommodation " purposes to the friends who, sooner or later, leave them to pay up for their stupidity. In some cases even repeated losses fail to inculcate the required wisdom, and the victim goes on adding to his "experiences" without gaining the requisite firmness to withstand the pleadings of his tormentors. It is an old, old story, and nearly always has tho same finale.