OFFICIALS DISMISSED.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1921, Page 5

OFFICIALS DISMISSED.

FROM STATE COAL DEPARTMENT. SEQUEL TO YOUTH’S THEFT. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Sept. 29. As a result of a departmental inquiry following the embezzlement by a youth in the Christchurch State Coal Depot the -following officers have been dismissed from the Public Service: The manager and senior 1 clerk, Christchurch State Coal Depot; the auditor who was responsible for the oversight of the accounts; and the accountant at the head office of the State Coal Depot. An inquiry was conducted by Mr. Verschaffelt into the system on which business was conducted in the Christchurch depot, and means taken to prevent defalcations. STATEMENT BY OFFICIALS. ACTION CONSIDERED DRASTIC. APPEALS TO BE MADE. Christchurch, Last Night. Regarding the State Coal Department dismissals, Mr. Nalder, manager of the Christchurch office, said: “I am considering the matter of appeal. The punishment could not have been worse if I had been implicated. As far as the evidence to which we have access is concrened, there is nothing whatever to prove the slightest carelessness or negligence. It has to be remembered also that all the money was recovered, and not a single penny was lost to the Government, and that the defalcations were discovered by officers in the Christchurch office, and not by officers of the Audit Department. It looks to me at present, in view of the drastic step taken, that retrenchment is the order of the day, and that justice has gone by the board.”

Mr. Rich, the chief clerk, who was also dismissed, endorsed Mr. Nalder’s remarks in regard to the injustice of the punishment, and said he certainly would appeal. “I am astounded at the announcement,” he said. Both Mr. Nalder and Mr. Rich have been nearly fifteen years itt the Public Service, in both cases in the State Coal department. Mr. Nalder began in Wanganui, and stayed there for twelve years. He had been in the Christchurch office for three years. Mr. Rich began his career in Christchurch, and has been here all the

[The youth referred to embezzled £2OOO and put it in the Savings Bank.]