Defalcations Undetected For Six Years

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 24, 29 January 1937, Page 8

Defalcations Undetected For Six Years

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Last Night. Tno feeling of disquiet caused by tho fact that a clerk's defalcations extending over a period of six years in tho Public Trust Office could pass undetected was referred to in the Supremo Court by Sir John Reed when he sentenced Arthur Alton Burd, aged 40, to two years' reformative detention. Tho money mentioned in the charge was £282 8/8. “I suppose your defalcations would have been detected sooner or later, but it is a little disquieting that such things can go on in an office like tho Public Trust for years without being discovered,** said Sir John. “It may well be that the system at that office is not to blame; it may be that your frauds were designed in such a way as to defy the audit system of the office, bo that I make no comment. It would be unfair for mo to make any comment further than to say what I have said. It is disturbing that frauds such as yours can go on in an office like tho Public Trust for so long a period without discovery, but I have no doubt that every effort will be made to prevent similar happenings in future.'* Sir John said, however, that it was a fact the prisoner did bring his course of crime to a stop when apparently there was no immediate fear of discovery.