A LARGE DEFICIENCY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1922, Page 5

A LARGE DEFICIENCY.

BANKRUPTCY OF LAWYERS. POSITION OF TRUST ACCOUNTS. HAMMOND AND CRACKNELL CASE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. As a sequel to the bankruptcy of the legal firm of Hammond and Cracknell, three charges of having made false declarations in respect of that firm’s trust account were preferred at the Police Court to-day against Jas. Waring Jamison. The evidence showed that accused forwarded to the officer in charge of the audit of solicitors’ trust accounts certificates marked “audited and found correct,” with declarations to the effect that the certificates were true and correct reports. Accused had never made a report to the Solicitor-General in accordance with section 11 of the Act. An accountant gave evidence that the trust account books were kept in such a fashion that it was possible at any time to ascertain the substantial position of the trust fund. There had been a deficiency in the trust account since March, 1916. There were certain irregularities; money had been advanced to clients out of the trust funds without the provision of interest, while the books also showed that the partners had overdrawn their profits, the overdrawings coming out of the trust funds. Had a schedule of the trust bah ances been extracted and compared with the bank balance at any time during 1916, the trust account would have shown a deficiency. The Official Assignee said the deficiency in the estate was about £45,000, nearly all the claims being for trust moneys. Accused pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence. He was committed for trial, bail being fixed at £lOO.