ALLEGED FRAUDULENT TRUSTEE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1271, 29 November 1884, Page 1

ALLEGED FRAUDULENT TRUSTEE.

W. Wafing Taylor wh ß , brought up at the Eesident Magistrate's Court We' lington, on Wednesday, ou various charges of having, appropriated moneys belonging to the May estate. The first charge taken was that he ha'd between the 6th of June, 1882, and the 28th June 3884, wrongfully converted u> his own use the proceed of 778 shares m the Bank of New Z atand. la opening 'the cage for the prosecution Mr Jellico said the charge was oue of' the most atrocious and systematic ever preferred, against anyone in New Zealand It w ilß tint the accused had misappropriated the proceeds of 778 shares in the Bank of New Zealand i ß ft to cer.Hiu parsons by the late Mr James Mhv. Trie information was laid under Se<-. 79 of u e Larceny Acfco 1867, which m;.kes misappropriation of trust funds' by a trustee, a misdemeanor. The late Mr James May died in London in November, 1881 and by , his will certain gentl. men m England were appointed execu-or, of his English property. The pri-oner and another ; gentleman were, appoin e i executors of the Nr,w Zealand Estates. By his will the deceased bequeathe.! specifically certain legacies out of shares which | he held in the Bank of New Zealand. Twenty five of these shares were willed to Ernest Aruudel. At the time of his death May owned 1014 shares iu the Buna of New Zealand, the value of these *bares being then over £22,000. Of these shares 410 were left to p.rsons outside of the colony, 205 being | e f t to residents of New Zealand. The prison, r

i-btiioed probate of will on the 6'h J.im--1882, and lie (Mr Jellico) would »>- abie to prove that he had commenced h s firiminal career very early iudeed. Evidence would be brought to show that before the prisoner obtained a probate of will he had actually sold £SO shares and j disposed of the money for his own benefit He would prove that 778share S> on which the present information was based together with those which had been Transferred to persons entitled to r-.-eive them, were transferred by the Bank of New Zealand to Taylor in his own name the Bank recognising no trustees. The prisoner converted the 778 shares i» question to his own use. The shares were sold for him by Mr D. T. Stuart a -harebroker in Wellington, who wouM tell the Court that, he had paid the proceeds to the prisoner. Evidence w0.,1 I also be called to trace that money i ,:,, the prisoner's account in the-Natiuc Bauk of N*w Zealand at a time whe . h < Vecoiinfc was . overdrawn. Am in -• August 1882, Taylor. so ld some m -f----shares, and tha procseds amount d c., £1154 Bs, which were also pail into prisoner's account at the Nation*! B u> In February last vear, ho ag«i n sold ;i)0 ..bores, receiving £2308 5s 8d as the p-.i----ceeds, and this too was placet! to his credit. Taylor at this time was also trustee in Rhodes's estate, and by way of satisfying an indebtedness to it he wrote to Mrs Rhodes that be had invested £6965 of her money in the purchase of 298 shires in the Bank of New Zealand. He then transferred 298 shaies belonging to the May estate to Mrs Rhodes's estate? He also placed 80 shares to the credit or' Miss Rhodes. Fifty shares were also taken from the May estate at anothir time, and the proceeds of all these trnn--actions were converted by Taylor to his own use. Mr Jellico went into details relative to the prisoner's attitude towar.is the. English legatees, and concluded a forcible address by stating that when the evidence had been heard it wouirl be seen that the prisoner was odo of the most skilful thieves of the present age. D. G. A. Cooper, Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, Martin Chpman, barrister and solicitor, and D. M. Luckie, Deputy-Commissioner, were the first three witnesses examined. Their eviwas of a formal character.

.Richard Butler Rig?, accountant of the Bank of Ne-y Zealand, Wellington, deposed that he kept the share regikter. The Hank did not recognise (rum funds as regards sharea. Tde wh"!c of the 1014 shares he-id by ilie Lite J.mes May were transferred to Taylor in Ins own name, but atthe present time none of them were standing to his credit. Only 49 shares were transferred by Taylor Hccorrtiriu to the will ; to Jonas Arnndi-I, 20 ; to Arundel, 20; to Edmund A'uii'ivl, 47 ; to Arthur >Vaiupi"D, 9 ; \> Is »c C.ite.i, 5; toT. S. W 3t.. n , 25 ; ■•> Robt. Mckinley, 50; to Wooi. P. . - in?, and Sims, 11 ; 236 «>n' of th« ];,14 shares left by the late Mr May ueiog Uitidi counted for.

At this atige of the proceedings c.>u.is*l for the prosecution produced n t n. e number of d<cuu«eniß found in i© prisoner's possession. These in- Imied she iram-fer of the snares alhgrd V- liwve been nnlavvfuly Bold, a« ve I as B"ine letters wiitten to the prisoner rel.iiiv*- 10 legacies under the will of trie late Mr May. The documents *diich were obtained from the Official Assignee were marked as,Court exhibits.

i After taking, the evidence of David T. Stewart (sharebroker, who disposed of the shares for Taylor), E nest Wnamey (leger-ke*M>er in the Natioi al Bank), Thorraa Masou (obe of the trustees in the Rhodes <>3t-ite, Hnd who had got a transfer of 50 Bank of ftew Zealand shares from the accused to the Rho«ie.->'s, believing that they belonged to him), Aithur Edward Kovvden (clerk to the Rhodes's Trust, and who gave evidence to the effect that in April 1883, 298 were transferred to the Rhodes estate), Ernest Arundel'(who was a legatee under Mr May's, will of 25. shares, an(t wh<cli he had not received), and W. L Hnwk (Taylor's head cleik, who ti.,<t the entries in the trust book svere all in Taylor's handwriting), the case was adjourned till Saturday (to-day), bail being allowed as before.