THEFT ADMITTED

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 46, 18 November 1926, Page 7

THEFT ADMITTED

MONEY TAKEN FROM HOTEL SAFE PORTER COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE Horace Clifford Allan, an hotel porter (aged 25), pleaded guilty before Messrs. J. Staples and J, W. Ellison, J.P.’s, in the Magistrate’s Court .yesterday to a charge of stealing £ll2 belonging to Leslie Traill, licensee of the Carlton Hotel. Traill said that in October he had the bar book, in which the takings from the bars were entered by a lady clerk, made up, and in consequence of the examination he called in a soliictor to inspect his books. On the night of November 7 witness placed £l5 in the safe, locking up both the safe and the room in which the safe was kept, and placing a piece of paper in the crack of the door. The next morning he found that £3 was .missing from the safe, and that the paper .bad also disappeared. Accused was on duty on the night of November 7, and had in his possession two keys, either of which would have unlocked the safe room door. The safe lock was defective. In answer to a question by Mr. R. E, Pope, who appealed for accused, witness stated that Allan had _ been employed by the former proprietor, who had- found no fault with him. The bankings were checked with the takings. Mr. Pope: How was it that in three months £6OO mvsteriouslv disappeared? Witness: We'did not keep a correct tally of the change. One day there might be £lOO in change and the next day £GO. Did you make sure that the amount banked and the amount kept for change tallied with the takings?—“No.” Between May and October, continued witness, he examined his passbook, but did not notice that £BOO was missing. It took him from August to late October to find that out. Witness denied ever leaving the safe open when he used to go into the bar. He was not interested in racehorses, and would not take money suddenly Out of the takings to have a bet. L. J. Maule gave evidence that he investigated Traill’s books, as a result of which he found a shortage of over £BOO. He regarded the books as inadequate. Detective Hunt stated that Allan admitted having stolen sums of money from the hotel safe at the rate of about £7 a week since August I. Altogether £79 had been recovered. Accused had been ordered to pay £2 per week on : a maintenance order, and had been receiving a wage of £2 ss. per week at the hotel. Accused was committed to the Supreme Court for Sentence, bail _ being renewed in the sum of £2OO in his own recognisance, with one surety, of a similar amount.