HEAVY DEFALCATIONS

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 62

HEAVY DEFALCATIONS

SOLICITOR AND CLERK CHARGED NEW PLYAIOUTH, May 31. Found guilty of the theft of trust funds totalling between £7OOO and £BOOO between December, 1927, and last January, Harold John Aloule Thomson, solicitor, of Inglewood, and Samuel Robert Darlow, his law clerk,' were on Saturday night remanded for sentence by Mr Justice Reed. There were originally in the joint indictment 20 charges divided into (50 U.Mints, but the judge advised the jury that it would be unsafe to convict on three counts relating to an advance of £l5O in 1929, as it was possible that it was a personal loan to Thomson. The verdict did not include these items. The jury returned in 30 minutes. The hearing occupied two days and two evenings, and the numerous witnesses included Thomson and Darlow, who denied the thefts. Thomson denied knowledge that the books were in the hopeless state described by the accountant appointed by the Law Society to invest!? gate the position. He also denied living extravagantly. Evidence was given that the defalea? tions extended as far back as 1927, C. H. Wynyard, accountant, stating that he did not trace all the trouble to its origin. He estimated the total defalcations at possibly £12,000. Alany witnesses told of transactions, including loans and sales through the firm, and of never receiving the money. It is understood that the Solicitors' Guarantee Fund will reimburse clients in respect of sums lost since the comiug into force of the Solicitors Fidelity Fund Act, but this will cover only a portion of the loss.