TRUST BETRAYED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 887, 3 February 1930, Page 1

TRUST BETRAYED

DETENTION FOR DISHONEST CLERK ENGAGING IN GAMBLING “It appears that you have been engaging in gambling and that was the cause of your lapse.” This comment was addressed by Mr. Justice Smith, in the Supreme Court this morning, to Richard James Lanigan, a clerk, aged 26, who was sentenced to 18 months' reformative detention for the theft of £286 while a Government servant. A strong plea l’or lenient treatment was made by Mr. J. J. Sullivan on behalf of the prisoner. On passing the Public Service Entrance examination eight years ago, said counsel, Lanigan had entered the Lands Department, in which his promotion had been rapid, until he was finally placed in charge of titles and documents. Two years ago his wife became ill and, faced with bills, Lanigan converted two large denomination stamps, which he had in his possession, i:jto cash and then went on doing this. When about to be transferred elsewhere, prisoner had made a clean breast of his offences. Counsel said that Lanigan was a son of a hard-working and respectable family and was now ruined, both bis job and his place in life being gone. As all the documents, from which the stamps were taken, were intact and no permanent damage hhd been done, counsel urged prisoner’s admission to probation. Mr. Hubble, assistant-Crown Prosecutor, said Lanigan had previously borne an excellent record and his present lapse was unfortunate. His Honour remarked that while it was fairly clear prisoner was unlikely to offend again, he had a duty to the State and therefore could not grant probation. “If I did,” said his Honour, “it would be an intimation to every State servant with dishonest tendencies, that he might take up to £3OO without fear of punishment. The judge took into consideration that prisoner had voluntarily confessed to the offences in fixing the sentence.