Frauds on the Corporation. COLLUSIONISTS NET £7.000 PER ANNUM FOR SIX YEARS. Four Officials to be Suspended. £4,000 Deficiency.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 249, 24 March 1888, Page 5

Frauds on the Corporation. COLLUSIONISTS NET £7.000 PER ANNUM FOR SIX YEARS. Four Officials to be Suspended. £4,000 Deficiency.

The •' Sydney Globe" says :—" The statement made by the Mayor at the Mayoral quarterly luncheon yesterday, that a considerable deficiency had been discovered by the special auditoia in the accounts of the department presided ove* by the City Engineer, was only what was anticipated by those who had not forgotten the circumstances of the Bradford frauds. At the time the inquiry into this swindle was being conducted, and the defaulters were being tried in the lower courts. Mayor Harris, then sitting in the body of the chamber, gave it as his opinion tha*. the deficiency or embezzlement would be found to reach to Hid first work upon taking his seat as Mayor for the eunent year was to appoint special auditors, and their first or progress report shows that embezzlements amounting to £21,708 2s 8d have taken place by a carefully-worked scheme of overpayments since December 31, 1881. This statement only includes the accounts of one portion of the city system— namely, the stores purchases, and the result has been arrived at by overpayments effected by falsification of accounts, forgery or order forms and receipts, and a general scheme ot bold and hazardous swindling. The Mayor is this morning in consultation with the City Solicitor with a view to instituting criminal proceedings forthwith against" some of these more directly concerned in the frauds, and who escaped being implicated in the Bradford case, owing to an insufficiency of evidence. It is impossible now to doubt for a moment that collusion existed during the period named between officials high in the Corpo- ! ration service and the employees directly concerned in the disposal of the material | received at, and issued from, the stores of the City Council. At the same time there is nothing in the auditors' report to warrant the belief that at fche present time, or, indeed, dining the last twelve months, any grave irregularities have existed. The diecovery of certain shortages in the City Building Surveyor's department prior to the appointment of the gentleman who now holds the position led many persons to suppose that the whole financial system of the Corporation was suffering from the contagion of the dishonesty found in the works branch ; bufc a hasty, though comparatiely thorough, search fails to confirm these suspicions. It is a matter for grave comment that the books of the Council for 1888 have cither been mislaid or dostroyod, and the inquiries and examination of the auditors enn only extend through the period intervening. Pending the result of the inquiry, it is probable that the leading officers of the department in which the embezzlements have taken place will be suspended. Tho duties of the City Engineer will meanwhile be discharged' by the senior officer of the department.

The System of Swindling was fully explained at tho Bradford trial Goods wero oidered as required by the gangers in charge of works, and the requisition forms subsequently altered. Thus a man would order 10 castings, and the form would subsequently be altered to make it appear that HO had been supplied. If the price oE goods were, say, l^d per lb, the Corporation would chargod 4£d, and so on. Initials and signatures were forged, receipts and orders were signed, and generally tho business of the Corporation was conducted by two sets of officers ; the first passed the correct entries, and the second effected tho necessary and profitable alteraions.