HE CONFESSED

NZ Truth, Issue 1148, 1 December 1927, Page 9

HE CONFESSED

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Speoial Wellingf ton Rep.) Defalcations by dishonest olerkr are, becoming Increasingly frequent. It were not as though defalcations occurred where men of inexperience had been placed In positions of trust. ' TN nearly every instance misappropriations have been laid at the door of tried and trusted servants with long years of service behind them. New methods £o get away with the cash are always being devised, but whether they are ingenious or not the guilty persons are always sooner or later found out. . : The latest man to sink an hon- • orable oareer In crime Is Donald' McLeod Wilson, until reoently assistant accountant for the firm of , Kirkcaldie and Stains, Ltd., drapers, of Wellington. who for seven years had been employed by the rirm, converted over £639 to his own use— and this deI spite the faot that he was drawing a salary of £7 a week. ■■■■■:, He is not of the stuff of which criminals are made, however, for at the beginning of the present jnonth remorse for his actions overtook him a.nd he went to the detective office and confessed the whole sorry business. Last week m the Wellington Police Court, before S.M. Page, Wilson appeared oharged with helping himself from his employer's funds and pleaded guilty. ' - -.■ " , . Wilson's duties with the firm involved his taking of the cash from the cashier and attending to the banking of it, said Chief- Deteotive Ward; ' At the end of eaoh day the money was placed m the safe, Wilson making it up and f depositing it with the bankIt had beoome his praotloe^during the past six months to take what he wanted out of the oa»h, write out a oheque for the amount taken and bank It with the rest. These were always returned as useless and Wilson destroyed them. Any name that came into hie Head he used as a signature for the cheques, he aaio m his statement. , .He had lived beyond his means, which caused him to steal the money.! / To Lawyer W. Perry, who appeared for the accused, Detective-Sergeant •Holmes said Wilson had given c"very assistance within hia power to olear the matter up. Wilson, who is a young married man, pleaded guilty and was remanded on bail to the Supreme Court for sentence. ; , • • \ \