SPENT £3550.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 April 1922, Page 7

SPENT £3550.

AND STRUCK ONE WINNER. Surprising information concerning a bank clerk’s defalcations, his heavy plunge into racing to win back money lost, and the frequency with which the luck went against him was given in the Melbourne Insolvency Court last week. It was during an examination of lan St. Barbe Richardson, formerly accountant in the Commercial Bank at Hawthorn, who was sentenced in September last to two years’ imprisonment, with hard labor, for having appropriated £3550 of the bank’s money, all of whieh, according to his confession, “'was lost at the races in a month.” Richardson said he might have had £lO left out of £5OO when the first day’s racing was over. On the second occasion on which he went to the races he took £lOOO to square up his defalcations if possible. He did not win a bet that day. On the third day he again had £lOOO to start with, and finished With £5. He won £650 on The Tyrant at Williamstown, but lost all his winnings the same afternoon. His Honor: You backed only one winner in four Saturdays and spent £3550? “Yes.” “Did you owe any money.” “No.” “You simply made a dash / with the money from the bank?” “Yes.” His Honor adjourned the examination till a date to be fixed, to enable further information to be obtained concerning Richardson’s betting trausac-