A Witness's Honour

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 505, 7 November 1928, Page 15

A Witness's Honour

SICK MAN COMES TO COURT SECRETARY ON TRIAL “1 have been very sick and some one suggested my honour was at stake,” said Alexander Mearns Rust, an auditor, who was called yesterday by the Crown to give evidence in the trial of Frederick William Webster, ex-secretary of the Whangarei Co-operative Terminating Building Society, which is proceeding in the Supreme Court. It is alleged that Webster has committed theft in that -lie lias failed to account for divers sums totalling £1,498. Mr. Justice Blair and a jury are hearing evidence. Mr. V. R. Meredith prosecutes, and Mr. A. H. Johnstone, supported by Mr. R. K. Trimmer, of Whangarei, defends accused. Tho witness Rust said he was a public accountant and prior to that was headmaster of the Hikurangi School for 215 years. Witness himself did all the ledger and journal work in connection with the society’s books. He assisted Webster not for payment, but because he regarded him as a struggling man. Witness generally did most of the preparation of balance sheets from the records in the books. After Webster’s first year witness was unable to verify .the cash in hand because the balances were so late. When Mr. Meredith formally asked witness if he had had any of the missing money Rust looked pained and taken aback. “I am neither a thief, a rogue, nor a liar,” he said.

In reply to Mr. Johnstone, witness said lie had not given evidence in the Lower Court. He had had advice from a doctor that he ought not to be worried with details of the books, ‘and that he should not give evidence. The ledger and journal of the society were his own property, bought with his own money. There was a ledger and journal that he had not handed over to the investigating accountant. Witness was not certain if these still existed, but he had not destroyed them.

Asked by his Honour where these books were, witness said: ‘T have not the slightest idea. They took all my books and everything away from me when I became ill, and I have not been back to Whangarei.” William John Alexander Thompson, of the firm of Thompson, Gray and Rodgers, auditors, said he. found the society’s books very incomplete. He found a total deficiency of £1,505 from the inception of the society to September 10 last.

Hearing was then adjourned, until this morning. A young girl clerk, Grace Eleanor Brown, employed by Webster, also assisted with the Racing Club books kept by Webster. There was no shortage in these, nor in the other agencies held by him. Cross-examined, witness said she remembered the practice of making members financial, when not actually • so. A voucher was put through although no cash was taken. There was about a dozen of these each balTof. Witness was instructed to the vouchers. A shareholder written up might delay payment for a considerable time. Detective J. K. Robertson, who arrested Webster on September 22, said accused was willing to mako a .statement, but his solicitor said “No.” Dur-' mg the 12 months witness had known accused he had found him to be a decent living man. ADDRESS BY DEFENCE No witnesses were called for the defence, Mr. Johnstone being content to address the jury. “Our submission is that the Crown undertook a hopeless task in endeavouring to prove this man guilty,” said counsel. No negligence, however gross, could amount to theft. A man must have what lawyers called an “animus virandi”—a guilty mind. It must be proved first that accused received the society’s funds and that he fraudulently failed to pay such money into the bank. There was great doubt whether the funds ever came into the accused’s hands. Accused was a man devoid of knowledge of book-keeping, and dilatory in his methods. His appointment was an unfortunate one. At the outset tho society formulated a set of rules, some of which were to be substituted by what were known as “rafferty” rules. “A solemn farce” was how counsel described the periodic audit by the witness Rust. He was virtually head book-keeper, and certified to the correctness of his own balance-sheets. There had even been errors from the first year. “If you carry on a business on these lines you will soon find that your cash and books will be hopelessly out in no time;** Mr. Johnstone went on. Rust’s admission that he had not counted the society’s cash at balance time was the most extraordinary dereliction of duty imaginable. It might have been that Rust’s memory had failed liim in evidence. It had been proved that a grossly improper system of “financing” unfinancial shareholders had been employed. This was surely a fruitful source of error. An apparent deficiency might easily be shown if a set of books were not themselves correct. And it had been established they were not correct. Why the society had thought it necessary to institute criminal proceedings it was hard to say. (Proceeding)