Easy-Going Board

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 504, 6 November 1928, Page 1

Easy-Going Board

A SHORTAGE OF FUNDS

Ex-Clerk Charged

AN 1 ex-clerk to the Mercer Town Board, Augustus Henry Francis Wisnesky, aged 42, was indicted in the Supreme Court this morning on a charge of failing to account for £353.

The trial was heard by Mr. Justice Smith and a jury. Stating the Crown’s version, Mr. V. N. Hubble said accused had been appointed clerk of the Mercer Town Board In 1922, at a salary of £26 per annum. The post was a sideline to his regulaf occupation as a railway signalman. A Government audit inspector had found the shortage on July 16 last. Owing to difficulties of communication with accused there had been no audit since March, 1924.

When the shortage was pointed out accused expressed surprise at the large amount. He knew there was a deficiency but thought it might be about £4O or £SO. He admitted in a statement that he had been in the habit of taking small .amounts from the board’s cash when his family was ill. It was his custom to pay back what he removed and he believed he had replaced everything. GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE

Evidence as to the discovery of the deficiency was given by Hugh Wylie, Government audit inspector. Witness ascertained that accused’s books were not a complete record of his receipts. Accused was short £42 In heavy traffic fees; £lO, dangerous goods licences; £l6, motor drivers’ licences; £53, rates not entered; £139 hall hire; and £93, cash which should have been in hand. Although witness had frequently been in Mercer he had had great difficulty in getting into touch with accused. Also Wisnesky had repeatedly ignored correspondence regarding audits.

Cross-examined by Mr. Alan Moody for accused, Wylie said that between £l5O and £2OO a year was collected by the board. So long as they had a credit balance he thought members did not worry. So long as nothing

came to light the system was a go-as-you-please one. To Mr. Moody, Reginald Aylett, until recently chairman of the board, said that his board knew nothing of the shortage until accused’s arrest. “Your finances must have been in a very healthy condition,” counsel commented. Witness agreed. The usual practice was for ratepayers to make payments at accused’s residence when' he was “pulling signals.” That did not strike you as a good business proposition?—No, not now. Would there be anybody on the board beside yourself who knew anything about balance sheets?—l don’t think so. I don’t know much about them myself. Detective Frank Sinclair, who conducted investigations, gave similar evidence to that of the auditor. “DRIFT AND MUDDLE” Addressing the Jury before calling evidence Mr. Moody said that he would show that accused, a working man, knew even less about books than the late chairman. The onus of the trouble was on the board. “As an illustration of drift and muddle this case stands by itself,” declared counsel. “I think you were appointed clerk to the Town Board?” asked Mr. Moody of prisoner, who went into the witness-box. “I was appointed in this way, the board could get nobody else to take the position,” (Laughter.) After a short retirement the Jury brought in a verdict of guilty, with the strongest recommendation to mercy “in view of the muddled state of the whole position and the loose methods employed by the Town Board.” Prisoner will be sentenced at the close of the criminal sessions.