MISAPPROPRIATION OF MONEYS

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 82, 6 April 1916, Page 7

MISAPPROPRIATION OF MONEYS

CHARGE AGAINST PUBLIC

WORKS CLERK,

COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE

A young man named William Henry Thomas Mardon was charged before Mr F. OB: Loughnan, S.M., yesterday with that,, being a perscin in' possession or control of certain public moneys,' to wity public-account suspense moneys, he did between July Ist, 1915, and March 27tby1916, fraudulently apply the sum of £92 3s 4d of the said moneys to a purpose «ther than that of the public service, to wit, his own use.

Sergeant C. J. King conducted the ■prosecution. Mr W. T. Churchward appeared f6r the accused.

Percy S. Waldie, sworn, said he was oilice inspector of Public Works pepn.i-tinent for the whole of New Zemin ad. Accused was the acting chief ■ clerk at Blenheim, and authorised, officer for Ihe disburseanent of .public moneys. The accused took ovei the control of the particular account en July 21st, .1.915. On thai occasion £2873 10s Id was transfer). d to the account in question, the ..coused giving a receipt for that »n?.(: :?it 'to his predecessor, Mr Solntran. Since then various large «uti"m iiad been placed to the .account. On valid accounts certified to by over- ce-rs or engineers, -or in "matters "thai: oame under their own direct cognizance in the ordinary .routine of the office, the chief cleric was autlic rised to pay accounts from the funds at his disposal -.'id/ . the bank. .He had to operate on i3ib bant by kiheque, though not necessarily pay all .accounts by cheque. Each payment had to be properly nnd tlie receipt was put into a schedule and forwarded to the chief office of the Public Works Department. At the end of each month a statement for the Treasury had to be | prepared enumerating the schedules forwarded to the head, office of the Department and showing his in-, j ■debtedness at the beginning of each j ■month and tire amount he "had to j .account for at the end of the month' .after providing for vouchers included in the month's statement of expenditure, but for which the receipts had aiot bt-en received by him in time to send forward in the sohedtile. The j accused did not send in the outstanding Accounts regularly : and, it was iiecai'se of tins .delay in the receipt oi vouchers from the Blenheim office that the "witness came across' from Wellington. He arrived, on March ■25th and completed his inspection on oi about the 27th He found a large number of receipted vouchers in the office, which should have been sent forward. These dated back to September last. The accused, was just tal-ing steps to dispose of them in f.ho proper' manner by forwarding Th*?m to the head office. After investigation and checking every avails>l'le. document, the witness found a -dcli.nency of £92 9s 4d. The accused »did nil he could to assist the witness to discover anything that would •reduce nis indebtedness. Nothing at all of this kind was found, and no thing had transpired since. He ask d the accused what he had. done j ■with the money, more particularly j tec::se he was qtiite satisfied that a «eeri:nn amonrtfc of the shortage had ceine about since March Ist last. The I aoenf.ed said he did not think the [ was as much as that, but that1 he had private accounts to meet. The witness told him that it was a i very wrong impression he had as to the use oi Government^ moneys. He «sked. the accused if he thought he ■would be ablo to mako thq amount r^ood, telling him he would have to report the matter to the Under-. £ecreiary forthwith- The accused said lie would have no difficulty in getting the money. The witness ieles'splied to .the Under-Secretary, tellii;^ liim of the shortage and sayjug ihat Martion wwild make good if aTowecl. He received a. reply to the oifect that Mardon should certainly mr.ke good the money, in which case Irniqnt treatment ■would be recommended, but if the money was not fo;-iheoining at once the matter would have to> be put in tho hands i)f tho police. He replied on the 27th. asking that no action be taken till Wednesday, the 29th, as Mardon 3iad io telegraph early on the Tuesday to those people whom he-thought .would lio 1p him. On Tuesday after--310011 Marilon handed to him £60 on account of the defalcations, and at five o'clock that evening the witner; reported that he had received £60 from Mardon., that the net anioimt ■flue to him for salary to March 27t1i /the d;\.b>, oft which tho witness suspended him), amounting to £12 5s ix\, was available, and that £20 6s 4d Vtis htiil requh'ed to make up the shortage; niul said ho would telegraph not later than 11 o'clock next morning if 1 his amount was forthcoming. Next morning the balance was forthcoming:. The witness took a receipt for Mardon.'s salary and gave him credit for it, and that ended tho matter. The witness left for Wellington next afternoon, and, notwithstanding that the Department was not anxious to move in tho matter, =:eein£ that the difference Jiad to be made good, action had to lig> tnkon in the terms of the clause

to thij control and use of puiiik moneys. Mardon bad been in the service nearly eleven years, graduating from the position of cadet., and r»evor held a position of such responsibility previously. The witness said he had seen his work in other places. and certainly it was more creditable to him thafi the work he had done in Blenheim.

In further examination, the witness said it was t«he pi-actice for the chief clerk to send requisitions for ; money he requirsd to We:inigton, j and, if it was approve-"], the money; was placed to his ered>f. :n the usual j way. But for the disorganisation ; caused by the war ho won!-' probably have paid a visit of inspection to the Blenheim office at a <icnsider«b3 i<<earlier date. *

By Mr Churchward: "When investigating the accounts, he found the accused- most frame and joady to help. In other places the accused did creditable work. The trouble here seemed to be that he had become, indifferent. He should not say tliat the difficulty into which the accused got himself was due to the muddling of the petty cash. There was no occasion for him to hold a large amount of petty cash from month to month.

Sergeant King said that ** he arrested the accused on warrant yesterday. He read the warrant over to him. The accused replied : "The money just went, and there is no defence."

By Mr Churchward: He knew nothing whatever of i>revioiis occurrence against the accused.

Tho accused pleaded guilty, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.

The Magistrate said that an application for bail could not be entertained. .