B.—l [Pt. ll].

8

Lands and Survey Department. Thomas Smith Dickson, a temporary clerk in the Accountants' Branch of the District Lands and Survey Office, Wellington, stole Post Office orders remitted to the Lands and Survey Department by Crown tenants, amounting to £86 13s. Bd. He was charged with theft, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and eighteen months' reformative treatment. Dismissed from the service. * Marine Department. John Norman McLean, temporary clerk, Marine Department, was charged at the Magistrate's Court with committing thefts amounting to £24 ss. by collecting certain fees for machinery certificates and fraudulently diverting them to his own use. Restitution of the amount was made. McLean was admitted to probation for a term of two years, and dismissed from the service. Mines Department. Arthur Gilbert Laurenson, Manager, Government Firewood Depot, Thorndon, was charged with the theft of £70 received for sale of firewood the property of the Crown, for which he had failed to account. He was admitted to two years' probation, and ordered to pay £2 2s. costs of the prosecution. Restitution was made. Dismissed the service. Post and Telegraph Department. C. H. Pugh, of the Postal Department, Wanganui, was charged with the theft of £1.05 Is. He pleaded guilty, was sentenced to two years' reformative treatment, and dismissed from the service. The practice adopted by him was to hold back collections made by him from the automatic franking-machines. Upon discovery he repaid the amount. Public Works Department. C. S. M. Johnson, Overseer, Public Works Department, Kahuika : On finding a shortage in his cash of £65 ss. 4d. he at once paid the amount to Public Account and put the matter in the hands of the police. Investigation has failed to throw any light on the cause of the disappearance of this money. Registrar-General's Office. E. A. Selman, Clerk in Registrar-General's Office, failed to account for search fees amounting to £26 2s. lOd. Investigation showed general laxity of control in the Registrar-General's Office resulting in irregularities. The amount was deducted from Selman's salary, and he was transferred to another branch of the Service where he would not be required to handle money. His annual leave and annual increment were withheld for one year. Repatriation Department. A. H. D. MacDougall, Clerk, Repatriation Department, Dunedin : Irregularities amounting to £184 2s. 6d. were discovered in the Repatriation Department, Dunedin, and Court proceedings taken against MacDougall. The Court convicted MacDougall of forgery and defalcation, and admitted him to three years' probation. Restitution of the amount was made, and he was dismissed from the service. Further defalcations have since been discovered, amounting to £175, and trial is set down for the Supreme Court sitting in August. Stamp Duties Department. T. U. Bristow, First Clerk in the Stamp Duties Department, Napier, was sentenced in the Supreme Court, Napier, to six months' imprisonment for theft of £150, the property of the New Zealand Government. Bristow had removed stamps of this value from documents which he afterwards destroyed. Dismissed from the service. State Fire Insurance. John Tammadge, Agent, Te Kuiti: This Agent failed to account for all the premiums collected by him, and at the end of April, 1921, a deficiency of £47 12s. sd. was discovered. Tammadge was allowed by the Department to resign. George H. Nunnerly, who was appointed Agent at Te Kuiti after Tammadge's resignation, also failed to account for all his collections, and a deficiency of £86 12s. lOd. was discovered in January, 1922. Nunnerly was also allowed by the Department to resign. Restitution in full has now been made in both cases. State Forest Service. Forest Ranger, Greenvale, reported the loss of blankets amounting to £9. As Quartermaster Dobson, who was in charge of the labourers and responsible for the blankets, has left the Service, no action has been taken to recover the amount. Public Works Department. The Power-house Superintendent, Lake Coleridge, reported that on the receipt of a registered package from Christchurch containing salaries the cash therein was checked and found to be short by £48 12s. 7d. The police took the matter in hand, but were unable to obtain a clue to the disappearance of the money, and, as responsibility for the loss cannot be fixed on any official, the amount will be written off. G. F. C. Campbell, Audit Office, 6th July, 1922. Controller and Auditor-General.