ALLEGED EMBEZZLEMENT.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1044, 8 June 1883, Page 2

ALLEGED EMBEZZLEMENT.

THE INFORMATION DISMISSED. George! Beamish was brought .up on remand at the R.M. Court this morning, charged with embezzlement; of the funds of the Patba County, while acting as dog tax collector. . , The following:evidence for the prosecution was given. ; Robert Smart;: Clerk at the Bank of New Zealand, Patea. I have looked through the vouchers relating to the County Fund Account, in order to see if there were any deposit slips showing that money bad been paid in to that account by Mr Beamish during the years 1882-1883. I found that during 1883 he had deposited monies, but not in 1882. He made one deposit on the 16th of March, 1883. I produce the pay-in slip. That is the only deposit made out for Mr Beamish or by him. Crosß r 2xamined : When I was pursuing these investigations, I found a sort of trust account, which goes back some years, in the name of the chairman and treasurer. I can’t say who it was paid in by, or what it consists of. .1 have looked over! the hooks as far back as five or six years, Without finding when the money wm credited to the trust account. Re-examined : There have been no payments to the credit of that account during the last five or six years, Edmund Morgan Honeyfield : I am a farmer, living at Whenuakura. During the year 1882 I paid dog fax t.o Beamish. 1 paid him 15s dog tax at the old County Council offices. I paid it for my dogs bn the 6th of May,lßß2. I also paid 15s for two for Mr-Buckerell. .I'have no memorandum of that date. This was about hvo weeks after paying the other: I paid it by cash, I did not get a receipt, but, I. received two badges. I paid for my own dogs by cheque. The cheque was for £l. I received 5s change. That (produced) is : the. cheque. One of the dogs was a brindled bull-dog, about eight or nine years old*; and the other a yellow and white sheep dog, about five or six years old. Both animals were males. Cross-examined ; I am quite clear 1 paid the cheque to Mr Beamish. „Mr Harden received amount for Mr Buckerell s dogs. Mr Beamish was not present then. I was not a member of the Council at that time.

John Black: I was clerk and treasurer to the Patea Council during the year 1882. 1 was also registrar of dogs. Beamish was dog-tax collector for the Cpunty. Beamish was appointed, at the beginning of the year 1882. He never paid over any dog-tax to me. He was-written to and spoken to about the matter of the dog-tax by the chairman of the County council and myself. ; He said he had lost some of his papers and could not make out; his accounts. I believe I did at the request of the chairman ask him to pay the- money for dog-tax in to me. I think he made a reply to the effect that he had only registered a few dogs. Mr Macalister informed me that Beamish claimed to have paid me £2O or £3O, but Beamish did nothing of the kind. Beamish gave me £2 once to get some stamps, which was to be paid back, but I don t believe it ever was. Beamish did not state he was taking the money out of dog tax. I did . not know where the money came from. 1 denied' to Mr Macalister that I had received any moneys re dog tax. There were no,other amounts that I borrowed from Beamish. M l ' Beamish did not pay me. several small amounts as ho stated to Mr Macalister, the £2 was the only amount I ever received from him. and that was a loan. I wrote a letter (copy produced) on the 24th June, 1882, requesting Beamish, to send in a return of all dogs registered, together with all fees collected. I never got any account from Mr Beamish. The first account T saw was when Mr Macalister obtained (ho book marked L. _ Beamish told me the first dog tax. was recorded on loose sheets of paper which he had mislaid. Cross-examined ; It was after I requested Beamish to, send a return in that ho told me that the first dog tax was recorded on loose sheets of paper. I remember tenders

bein'? called for dog tax collecting, I remember the advertisement being written out. Mr Beamish sent in three tenders I think. There were three different terms I am almost sure that the Is per dog tender was the one accepted. I never wrote "to Mr Beamish to tell him his tender was the one accepted. Mr Chapman and I met him in town, and told ; him verbally of it. Beamish never gave any bond, nor was he asked to do so to my knowledge. I told Mr Beamish, by instruction from the Chairman, to pay the money he collected over to me. I did not alter the instruction so long as he was collecting so far as lam aware. I think Mr Horner said he'would accept a P.N. to square the matter up. I understood from the chairman that a P.N. would be accepted. The chairman seemed very anxious to get the matter settled. At this time I think that the matter was regarded as a debt between Beamish and the Council. The chairman told me to tell Beamish to square the matter up, or it would have to be put into a lawyer’s hand. ; When I was an officer of the Council it did not,matter to me what monies came in or went out—it did not make any difference to my salary. Mr Beamish depended on his Jo wn energy for the amount of salary be received. lam quite sure that Beamish did not tell me that the £2 he gave me was for dog tax. Pie never asked me for the £2 back when I was in office. After this I paid out considerable sums of County monies, but 1 never paid him back..

Geo Harden : 1 was for some time .Clerk and Treasurer to the Patea County Council. I remember having wrote a letter to Mr Beamish concerning dog tax. (Letter read ( dated Nov. 1.) T never received any moneys from Mr Beamish when I was Clerk and Treasurer to the County Council. Mr Beamish told me once that he would not give moneys to Mr Black without having his receipt for them. Thai was early in the year 1882, ■ Cross-examined :-1 did not know till to-day that Beamish had lent Black £2. I told Beamish once that if I were He-I would n.ot pay moneys to Mr Black without his receipt. I don’t remember Beamish telling me that he had paid moneys to Black. I never remember seeing Beamish at a meeting of the Council, but I remember he was once called for. Mr Beamish did not reply to my letter of the Ist November. This was the case for the prosecution. Learned counsel for both sides addressed the Court. His Worship was of opinion that tio good would be got by pursuing the evidence any further., He had thought over the case carefully, and he thought taking the surrounding circumstances into consideration, it was better not to commit. Case dismissed.