ANOTHER "GENT-ONE."

NZ Truth, Issue 87, 16 February 1907, Page 6

ANOTHER "GENT- ONE."

Defaulter Francis Sentenced. The " Honorable Profession " Again.

The Christchurch shark, Harry Francis, who has been diddling his clients for, some time, and who was arrested m Wellington, and who smilingly admitted his blasted wrongness, got off very lightly, at the Supreme Court this week wtten he only got 18 months' . gaol. These professional . men get! off a darned sight easier than the working man, or the middle class jpker who is worth a hit of splosh. Harry Francis has been treated far better than Rayner, of lodge fame, pr notoriety, who got; a great deal more chokey for prigging a great deal less. He ruined nobody, but Francis, the blithesome Francis, did; and doesn't care a damn ; he expressed re- , gret m! a •statement handed, m to Judge Chapman, but every prisoner, every bloke who has been found out, is sorry— at being found out- His statenoettt-,- which was as long as a — '- iyfUwl&sts, very rightfully said that lie' cSuidnft justify his thieving :. Ac- ■ . uipte, «j>ud; that although..... His ... Hpnpr, h^d".,tfip- plea placed, before V/ Kim" asserted (as many .a thief has. asserted before) that mno single -case did he commit the acts with the deliberate intention 1 of ultimately robbing the clients whose money he had appropriated. Then . this little bloke proceeded .to say that the defalcations cpuM> /never have' beeh'carried out had it rip't! been ibr the facility offered by the present, jnadeou^te provisions of the Law as to solicitors' trust accounts. (Too true.) 'Among other things Francis said that he started m business with . nocapifal save . • / A, BORROWED. FIVER, v •Just after starting an opportunity occurred of making a good and. apparently permanent, income by making an advance to a business . firm, ' and he consulted a client who though not taking it himself gave him an overdraft at the bank on his: (Francis 1 ) trust account (his only ac-l . count) fpr £350 to enable him to dp so. The business didn't- pay and the principal, within four months, -, was bankrupt, ' and he (Francis), lost this, money and another £100, and. also .'the income he expected to ni£j;ke* Further, m respect of the repayment .Of this loan, interest and insurance ;»renfmms; he had to pay up to ; the • tune of. £700. Other financial transactions' were narrated by Francis; but when his account was in' credit' >t. the bank it was entirely through trust splosh.. Eventually he got. ' INTO DESPERATE STRAITS and , he should have dropped business ; but he didn't. He had a good biz. m -view, but the District Law Society stopped the biz. whatever it was, and: he was again on the bally rocks. So, instead of making sofne thousands of quids, he lost of hundred; In/every, case, when he -has been on the verge of blearing. ,' himself entirely from debt, ■his bad , angel stepped m and squashed his , hope of a fortune. Bankruptcy, . :br ( . . j 'disappointment was the cause, and/in i. ten' yeaa's he had lost £2500,, ; ; ! not including., jbad debts for cost's 7 ... . '•'' He had^alway.s lived plainly, and he had tm&te: nothing put of ,:anythin^i- ; He had- only 15s on Aim when ar-, j rested. His "wife and family had. to j support' themselves as - best they "', could. One of his prosecutors; Thomas, knew the state of his affairs, ahd ; also that he had a chance of getting vthe greater part of the money herequired if he had a reasonable time allowed. But Thomas wouldn't Rive time, and almost got the last pound out 1 of him. He had been advised i&, leave Chriatchurch, and he. only had lour quid m hiS kick when he i reach.cd the Empire City. He asked J the Court to believe that he had already been' punished 'from the very first; -having to go about his business, and appear amongst Jiis family as usual • had been no light trial, and the v : JACGUSATIONS QF CONSCIENCE . .Were always heard. ' He had neVer 1 gone to bed 'a single nigh ib without the-' dread of discovery in 'the/rn Pirning, and many k sleepless nights vha'fl jbeen passed m fruitless oregre^ ; a^d ,])lans tp imprpye his dangerous^ppsi--iion. only. to"iind frpm time to time his hopes bf resuscitation dissipated by some new failure or disapppintme^it m b.usinessl He' was alsp pun-: i^Kcd' m the loss of , his profession, self-fespect, his . utter social: ruin,' and the knowledge that his disgrace and degf adatipn . extended not only tb himself but also fell, on those near and; dear to him, and who never for one moment knew the state of his affairs until his arrest. He was. the last of his generation, and the "first of his tace Who had ever stood in'tfie disgraceful position he now found himself m. It had been reported that he had given money to his wife, whp had ' built' a house with it. This * wasn't true ; she never had any from him for that purpose. What little cash she had had was given -to. her. by friends and Relatives or earned , by herself. His little niba concluded by asking His Honor not to treat his case as arialacotis to the recent, lzard case m Wellington. He had never gambled, or had anything to dowith • liorse ' racing. * ."'.•.-■ Judge, ' Chapman expressed regret at seeing a' member of .the profession m prisoner's plight. Francis was well iadvanced m years, a matter which he took into consideration; his fiu> ther chance of committing similar acts were Very small. He had referred to the case of the Wellington lawyer, but the present case was n very different one. However, he could not overlook the fact that prisoner's peculations had been of a systematic nature, and the excuses he offered for his acts weren't valid : they were always made m similar cases.,- His ITonor concluded by , sentencing Francis to eighteen months' hard labor. And the primner- seemed quite satisled.