UNION FUNDS NOT ACCOUNTED FOR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 134, 23 June 1937, Page 5

UNION FUNDS NOT ACCOUNTED FOR

"May be Merely Case oi Muddling," Says Bench PROBATION ALLOWED * On a charge of thef t of £42 10/- on," trusted to hicn, the property of the To* moana braneh of the Wellington Freez* ings Workers Union, Hugh GSmsfiw Beban, single, aged 48, appeared in the Hastings Magistrate's Court this morning before Mf. -J. Miller, S.M., He pleaded guilty, The Magistrate decided to give defendaiit a chanCe aiid plficed Tiim on probation for two years on condition that he took out a prohibition order and made xestitutioU Of the money appropriated, Behan was' remanded when he peared before the Court before on Jtine 7, bail being allowed fit £56 and s sufety of a similar amount. Mr. W. Selwyn AVeflll appe&red for * the defence. It was Stated by the police that defendant had been appointed te Collect union dues, which wero later to. be handed over the nnidn secretary, He had coilected £112 10/-, but had failed to account for part of this. He had admitted quite frankly to Detectiv«-Ser-geant ReveU that he had used the axoney for his own purposes, Beban had not seen the secretary for a considerable time, said Mr. AverilL He had had nowhere to keep the mondy, which he had rqceived in small amounts, and hqji got it mixed with his own, He had never kept proper ro* cords and had got himself ik a complete muddle. He had not been drinking oi gambling with the money, He had had a period of sickness and was out of work for a f ortnight at one timo, There was no criminal intention behind the action, and defendant had sincs assisted ihe police and was anxiotxs for an opportunity to make full restitutlon. The money had bees, left in a reom where defendant uoarded and there was the possibility that he might not have had the use of all of it, The police agreed that defendant/s books were in good order and showed that the money had been coilected, There had bees no attempt to eonceai this. "This is not the ordinary kind of theft," remarked the Magistrate. Defendant had held a position of .trust, and the offence was a serious ene. "There is this in his favour," he add-* ed: " he has made no attempt at forgery or misrepresentation. All "the same, I am not altogether satisfied that a term of imprisonment is not neeOs* sary." As nothing had been known about defendant previously, he would give hioi a chance. It was possible that it might lxave been merely a case ■ of muddling. • . ■&