A HUGE SWINDLE.

South Canterbury Times, Volume XV, Issue 2067, 7 November 1879, Page 3

A HUGE SWINDLE.

A meeting of tlie shareholders of the Patent Shaft and Axletree Company was held at the Queen’s Hotel, Birmingham, on August 30, under the Vi .presidency of Mr T. E. Walker,: M.P. The report of the directors stated that the principal accountant and cashier, Mr William Coath, had absconded, and the ' accounts showed : defalcations amounting to £75,000. The chairman said Mr Coath had been in the employ ‘ of the company for many years, and as far as the directors were concerned, no suspicion' was breathed against him ; ;■> hbiice] he had enjoyed their full confidence. It was true that from time to time rumors had reached the Board that Mr Coath was living at an extravagant ra te—(hear, hear)—but he explained, to the directors that a rich uncle in London made him a handsome allowance, :f i juahing- the .stipulation that he ,was not to lead ah idle life. He was also in the habit, of displaying cheques for considerable amounts, which he said he had had from his uncle, but it was feared that the only uncle on whom he so largely and persistently drew was the Patent Shaft and Axletree Company. , The defalcations had been the growth of many years. When trade was good no doubt large sums of money were stolen out of the profits, and when the profits fell off, and times became bad, • tjiettfaiiamptdation.- of figures and falsification of accounts were restored to in osier to avoid detection. When it was remembered that in good times the company Cad paid as much as £I,OOO a-day in wages, and that their sales had been counted by millions, it would be seen that to avoid suspicion was not so difficult as .might at first appear. Yet inseldom if ever been perpetrated. Large sums had been taken as alleged payments for wages. Various items had been falsified, the manipulation being so ingenious that scarcely anything short of a continuous and professional audit would have led to , its discovery. The company, however, the defalcations of its secretary (notwithstanding, is in a remarkably sound financial condition.