THE GREAT BANK FRAUD.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 280, 3 July 1886, Page 2

THE GREAT BANK FRAUD.

Sydney, Mav 28.

Holt, ex-Manager of the Sydney branch of the bank of New Zealand, was brought before the Central Criminal Court at Darlinghurst, and pleaded guilty to larceny of a cheque for £4OOO. He was remanded for sentence. He looked pale, and wan and dejected. The following statement, written by Holt, was read to the Judcre : " Your Honor, before passing sentence upon me I should like to draw your atteution to a few matters, which I trust may have some effect in mitigating the punishment which 1 nave

to recaive, the effects of which will not end with my release from gaol, but must be felt till the end of my life. I have been twenty-five years in the colonies, and during the whole of that period have been employed in two Banks, namely, twelve years in the Union Bank of Australia, and thirteen years in the Bank of New Zealand, leaving the former's service only for an improved position in the latter. Such long service proves the estimation in which I was held by both institutions. I have every reason to believe the Bank authorities (until the happening of the occurrences which have placed me in my unhappy position) held me in high esteem, and valued my services to the greatest extent ; and I oan conscientiously say that I used every endeavor, even to the prejudice of my health, to forward the interests of the Bank of New Zealand, as well as those of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, of which institution I was also manager, and I think it will be generally admitted that the present entirely satisfactory conditions of those institutions is entirely due to my personal exertions. Both companies were started by myself in Sydney, and worked up by my own sole exertions to their existing prosperous conditions, realising much profit to the shareholders, of which I could speak at greater length, perhaps, to my own advantage, but I refrain from doing so, as it might be considered by the Directors a breach of confidence. When I was guilty of the conduct which led to my present prosecution, I left Sydney and made my way to Townsville, in Queensland, but was so wretched and full of remorse that I was on my return to Sydney to give myself up to the police when I was arrested at Brisbane. I had ordered my luggage to be placed on board the steamer for Sydney before my arrest, as I think the authorities will tell your Honor if they are asked, and in the same spirit of repentance I have assigned everything I have in the world for the benefit of my creditors, and there is every reason to believe that 011 the realisation of my estate my creditors will be paid in full or nearly so, for my other debts are but trivial. My chief creditors are the Bank of New Zealand and the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, and I hope it will be considered by your Honor some extenuation that the institutions in which I labored so hard, and I think I may without vanity say so successfully, will not in the final result be losers. To accomplish this end, I have, as can be proved to your Honor if necessary, denuded myself of everything I possess, and given every assistance in my power both by disclosure and advice towards the realising and managing of my estate. Your Honor will, I am sare, believe that my remorse and sorrow for my faults are to deep too find expression in mere words. My life is indeed wretched. My wife has been compelled to go to another country, where she has friends, upon whose loudness she must cast herself. lam more than forty-six years old, and am in a very weak state of health,. I have already known the horrors and bitterness of imprisonment in gaol for two months—a bitterness which to me I can't describe, and, in conclusion, I hope your view of my case is that of an unhappy man who has done his best to atone for his faults, and who has sacrificed his all to prevent those faults injuring anyone but himself."