The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1907 TOO TRUSTFUL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3742, 24 January 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1907 TOO TRUSTFUL.

Ip everybody were honest, there need be no statute law. Extraordinary precautions are taken in every civilised country by the authorities to protect a man from his neighbour and to protect the neighbour from the man. You often say that “a man’s word is his bond,” but you take his signed 1.0. U. all the same to back up Lis spoken word. Taking his written bond is an accusation. You don’t believe he is honest. As the law is applicable and applied to every person, no person is regarded as honest. To err is human. We are all human and all err. Some who err in small things put on airs and feel spasms ot virtue when a man swindles his clients out ot twenty-five thousand pounds or so. Despite the necessity of building entanglements of law around everybody, human nature is still too trustful. In the case of a lawyer like Izard ot Grey town, who has recently pleaded guilty to very large defalcations, it is astounding that the general public can be so misled for a number of years as to trust such a person. The trustfulness of people is probably the reason the defalcations are so large. It was of course impossible that a reputable man. belonging to an honoured faintly .could be going to “ let in ” his clients and rob them of, thdr money. Tb(en the blow fell- Who’d thought it ? Aid yen, people MkJaave thpught

fal. Don’t be too trustful in land transactions. Don’t a man’s word—it used to be his bond—it isn’t now, besides his memory may be faulty. He forgets. There is too much trust. Who doesn’t know the storekeeper who says to the customer who is willing to pay spot cash, “Oh that'll be all right Mr So-and-so.” If Mr So-and-so however never calls in any more it isn’t a bit all right. But it is the storekeeper’s fault. It is some trustful persons’ fault that H. Stratton Izard Esq., of Grey town, a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, got such a tree hand. Because the majority oflawyers are honourable men above suspicion, there is no need for the average client to allow anybody to handle large sums of money with the instructions “ Oh that’ll be all right.” Think of the trustfulness of the large Friendly Society which allowed its treasurer to default in his accounts for twelve years and who is now in gaol. Purvis, a trusted public servant charged with embezzling benevolent trust funds in Wellington, is to be hoped will prove his innocence. It would be particularly sad that any person should steal the money of the indigent. Then there is the Christchurch solicitor charged with misappropriation of small suras. It is again hoped, for the honour of a profession that contains so many brilliant and honourable men, that Frances is guiltless of the charges. The trustfulness or ignorance of people is an incentive to a weakly balanced person to commit depredations. The modern system of long credit makes fraudulent debtors. Unbusinesslike methods make embezzlers, the wave of speculation that has swept over New Zealand helps to fill gaols, asylums and hospitals. Few persons will err unless the chances appear very easy. The chances are too easy in New Zealand.