Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1884. WARING TAYLOR'S BANKRUPTCY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 220, 12 August 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1884. WARING TAYLOR'S BANKRUPTCY.

:The perusal of the Official Assignee's report m reference, to Waring Taylor's estate, as published by us last evening, reveals thje existence of a code of commercial morality which we suppose is ywtyhottt parallel. Here is a merchant,, who has been looked up to as a man of integrity for years, ' a monument of commercial .stability, yet who has been systematically plundering estates entrusted to him to manage. He denies any sense of moral guilt, we are told. Very likely. Any mpral preceptions of right and wrong, if they ever had existence, must have been extinguished long ago. pp.* years jjp h.as been guiJtU ly appropriating to his own uses the | property of others. During the commercial crisis m Wellington, there was never a* ; whisper as to the •soundness of Waring Taylor. Why, because he had a reserve fund of some or 1 to (Jraw upon of trust funds. When jie was pushed to make jjegtitution, he robbed Peter to pay Paul, by realizing on the securities of other trust estates placed m his hands by men wHo little thought wlien making Warixg Taylor their executor, that their estates were 1 to be misappropriated wholesale by the man £npsej]i'jta. a^minigter a'sacred charge, What a conscience tie must have carried with him for years past ; He knew . some day must come the crushing exposure, and he n^ust stand fortli^he guilty unmaskedroboer of dead men's bequests. And he a pillar of the church, a prominent Christian, the father of a family, and a man of whom anything opposed to the strictest principles of mora} rectitude would have been bejievecjl |mposy sibkv Yeb=a traitor to the sacred trusts reposed m him, by whom the widow and the orphan were robfeejjl; wjthout compunction. Now the queßfjjon arise^. Wh ; |t punishment can possibly 'make ame^s : fyj " n#ral turpitude " of his gommercial' relationships. none. If he is prosecuted, he is" liable' to be imprisoned for any term riot exceecl"ing twelve months, with or' without !h.4rd labor. T/welye months for such gigantic peculations, such dastardly moral obliquity \ What ■' a

farce ! The man who forges a cheque for or embezzles from his employer a trifling amount, is more severely dealt with. To speak of punishment, then, as explating the long series of criminal acts now laid to the charge of Waring Taylor is merely idle talk. What is the great lesson to be learnt? It is this, that there isgrave danger and risk m leaving large amounts of trust funds or valuable legacies m the hands of any one person to deal with, unless a scrupulously minute periodical investigation takes place. The Public Trustee is the proper person to be entrusted with such matters, as for his official conduct the State is responsible. Had the -Public Trustee been acting for these unfortunate victims, how different their position to-day. The salutary lessons inculcated by Waving TayLOii's unparelleled series of commercial frauds should sink deep into the. minds of the whole community.