THE MARRYATT CASE.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1921, Page 3

THE MARRYATT CASE.

GAMBLING ON RACECOURSE. LAPSE AFTER LONG SERVICE. The proceedings at the Wellington Supreme Court, when Arthur Marryatt, well known throughout the Dominion as chairman of many leading athletic bodies, came up for sentence, were' not without a dramatic side. The prisoner appeared to be nervous. Mr. W. Perry, who appeared for him, said it was a most trying task that had. fallen to his ■lot, that of pleading for clemency for a man he had known for many years, and with whom he was associated on many bodies. The prisoner pleaded guilty to the theft of £3575 from his employers, the Government Life Insurance Department. For 30 years Marryatt was in the employ of the department. The bulk of the money was taken within the last year. From a statement tlie prisoner made to the police, he first took small amounts, and then, as he became deeply involved, he . took larger amounts and gambled on the racecourse in a desperate endeavor to retrieve his position. ‘T am definitely instructed by the prisoner,” said Mr. Perry, "not to make any excuses, not to indulge in any recriminations against the department which employed him, or against any officers connected with the department, and not (J'plead that he has been subjected to sudden temptation which he was unable to withstand. The prisoner has committed an offence against the community. He has done an injury to the community for which the law demands that he be punished, but, Your Honor, the law also mercifully provides that the circumstances may be taken into consideration in mitigation of that punishment. 1 desire first of all to refer to the previous good character borne by the prisoner. He has had 30 years industrious, efficient service in the department. Till now ho has had a record absolutely unblemished. Till now he has had a reputation in the community which was second to nonk. His reputation was such that the news of bls arrest was greeted by all those who knew him at first with incredulity, and then, when the facts .became known, feelings of stupefaction." Mr. Perry referred at length to the prisoner’s long connection with all branches of clean sport, his work on patriotic societies, his uprightness, fairness and honesty, until ho fell. During the past ten years the name of Arthur Marryatt was on all committees and associations formed for advancement of the public welfare. Counsel urged these and other facts in mitigation. When he first found himself going down Marryatt lost his head and forgot his. sense of proportion, and so, after 48 years of useful life, there was found his vulnerable point. He found himself at last in the position in which he was to-day. Since bis arrest, and before his arrest, he had given all possible assistance to the police and the department to clear up the. state of affairs found to exist. Sipce his plea of guilty in the Magistrate’s Court he had waited daily for sentence, in conclusion, counsel pointed out that Marryatt had lost his superannuation, a goodly sum after so many years service, that his life was ruined, and that Marryatt’a attorney had been instructed to hand over to the Crown certain property held by the prisoner. Air. Justice Hosking stated that counsel’s address made a very powerful appeal to one’s feelings in the matter before the Court. It was very painful to have to deal with such a case.. He did not intend to say anything which would add to the remorse of the prisoner. He thought punishment could not be counted by the term of imprisonment. The prisoned had already been severely punished by the public disgrace in which lie found himself. The sentence would be one which could be reviewed from time to time by the Prisons Board. He was satisfied that the sentence was the minimum sentence possible, and it Jmight even be said that it was lenient in the extreme. His Honor said he had been influenced by matters placed before him which were not all in the depositions. He had decided' that the prisoner should be detained for three years’ reformative treatment.