W. R. Waters Sentenced.

Manawatu Herald, 7 September 1897, Page 2

W. R. Waters Sentenced.

At the Auckland Supreme Court criminal session on Friday morning, before His Honor Mr Justice Conolly, sentenced was passed on William B. Waters, late legal manager for several goldmining companies, who had pleaded guilty at the opening of the session to three charges of falsifying the share register of the Fiery Croii Goldmininpr Company. Before His Honor recorded sentence he asked Waters if he, had any further witnesses to (jail. The prisoner said he would like to call some witnesses, who would speak as to his past character. Several tradesmen deposed that the accused's transactions with them were strictly honourable and straightforward. His Honor, addressing Waters, then said he had given an unusual amount of attention to the case, because it was one of an usual character. As to his calling evidence as to character, the prisoner had, in the first place, been content with calling two witnesses who practioally knew nothing at all about his general reputation, and one of them had lost sight of him for 15 years. The best charactor the other witness could give him wa3 that he had never been charged with any offence. That, His Honor believed, was true. He had never been actually charged with dishonesty, but his Honor had looked into the proceedings whioh bad taken place in connection with the prisoner's bankruptcy, and, from the remarks of Mr Justice Richmond, there was a dear case similar to this one — that he had used his position as manager of a company to misappropriate the funds of the company, 'just as in the present case he had used these non-existent shares for the purpose of obtaining money. The Court had the evidence of Mr Aickin that the proposal for the creation of new shares was only resolved on June 2nd, and had only been mooted a week or ten day3 before, so that there was no possible pretext for tho prisoner to suppose that he (prisoner) would have apy to

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dispose of. He mast say that there had been some negligence on the part of the transferees of the shares in question, as they did not take proper oare with regard to the shares they were buying. His Honor did not know very much about Bhare transaction, but he thought that buyers of shares should not be so negligent as to take transfers of shares numbered blank. His Honor then sentenced the prisoner on each of the charges to imprisonment for 18 calendar months, the sentences to be concurrent. — Press Association.