NELSON MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 713, 20 September 1870, Page 2

NELSON MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

(Before 'Captain Rough, and C. Hunter Brown and William Wells, Esquires, Justices.) CHARGE OP FABRICATING RECEIPTS AGAINST THE LATE SUBTREASURER.

In tbe Nelson gaol, on Thursday afternoon, Francis Harris, formerly committed on a charge of embezzelemenr, was accused, on the information of Inspector Shallcrass, of altering a certain receipt for money, and putting off the same, knowing the same to have been so altered, to wit, a receipt signed by one George Besley, dated 7th June, 1870, for the sum of £4los, with intend to defraud, being an indictable offence.

Mr H. Adams prosecuted, and Mr William Pitt, of Westport, appeared, for the accused.

Mr Adams said: In this case we charge Harris with altering a receipt for money. The charge was laid under the 23rd Section of the Offences Against Property Act of 1867. The original receipt was dated 7th June, 1870, and the duplicate which was altered was made to appear as dated 7th July. The first was duly charged in his account as a credit to him on 7th Jnne, and he charged this amount again in his July account. The money was for payment for the conveyance of prisoners. He would prove by Mr Jackson that the document was delivered to him by Harris as a voucher for a regular payment in July, and he would prove by the purser of the steamer Murray, Mr Besley, that no such voucher was signed by him in July, as both ho and the Murray were in Nelson at the time the duplicate bears date as altered. H. D. Jackson, sworn: I am Provincial Auditor of this Province. Mr Harris was Provincial Sub-Treasurer, or Accountant; I believe he acted in both capacities, as Sub-Treasurer and Accountant for the West Coast. It

was hia business to make up his accounts monthly, and furnish a monthlystatement. I have had no regular statement of receipts and expenditure since February. All the vouchers I have received from him are up to July. It was prisoner's duty to send the vouchers to the Treasurer. Those now on the table are up to July. They were furnished to me by Harris, as the Treasurer was unwell at the time. They were handed to me by Harris himself, as vouchers, for which he had paid money on the Provincial account. He also produced lists as lists of payments in which the sums and names represented by those vouchers appear both in June and July. In the June account he has charged £-1 10.- under the head of " Conveyance of prisoners ;" and in the July account a similar amount is charged under the same head. These lists are in the prisoner's handwriting. They were presented to me as lists of payments made by hitn. By Captain Kough: There was no declaration made before a Magistrate as to the accuracy of these lists. It is not the practice to do so.

By Mr Adams: I had repeatedly applied to the prisoner for regular debtor and creditor accounts, but he has not supplied me with them. Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: The voucher marked A, that for June, is in Mr Besley's handwriting. The other, B, that altered to July, came subsequently. I am quite sure of that. Both are signed by Mr Besley. Ido not know if it was the custom to send bills attached to the vouchers; that was frequently done, but there was no rule of this kind with Mr Harris. There are a few bills attached to some of the vouchers. If the sums were small Mr Harris sometimes included several payments in one voucher. This double charging by means of duplicates was discovered about a week or ten days ago. It was after I laid the first information against the prisoner.

Mr Pitt: Now, Mr Jackson, was not tbis very item one of the items about which you spoke to Mr Harris ? Witness: No ; I think not. I cannot be more precise than to say I think not. But I think this was not discovered until after I laid the first information. I remember saying to him, about the latter part of August, that there were several duplicates amongst his vouchers. He asked me " how many ?" I said, " about a dozen;" and he replied, " The devil there are." George Besley, aworn : I am purser of the steamer Murray. I remember conveying two prisoners and a constable in the steamer Murray from Cobden to Westporc. It was in June last. I was paid £4 10s for the conveyance. The money was paid to me on the 7th June, by Mr Harris, at Westport. The voucher (A) is in my handwriting, and was signed by me on the date on which I received the money. I copied this voucher (A) from one prisoner gave. This one (B) is the one from which I made the copy. I wrote 7th June in the one I filled up. The date is altered in this one (B). It was June when I signed it. It has been altered to July. It was not so when I signed it. I received £4 10- for the vouchers, one of them being a duplicate. lam certain it was not in the early part of July that I received the money, because I was not in Westporc then, neither was the Murray, which was then on the slip in Nelson being repaired. Mr Pitt, in cross-examination : Will you swear that that was not altered to June from July, a mistake having been made in the date in filling up, and June written in ? Will you positively swear that this voucher was not in the same state as it is now at the time you signed it ? Witness : I would not like to swear positively, because I may have my doubts about it. I have signed a few vouchers in Mr Harris's office. I never signed one in blank. I was asked by Mr Harris to copy one of the vouchers, and I did. I thought it was to save time.

By Captain Rough: I did not receive any more than £4 10s for that transaction. [Shown altered duplicate.] If it had been in the condition it is in now I should, in copying it, have made the month July, or more likely would have pointed out the error to Mr Harris, as one was likely to make a mistake of a month in that way. By Mr Pitt: I can't say whether the money was paid to me in cash or by cheque. The total amount I received was £.9, but that included another payment for a different thing. By Mr Adams : I received only for these two vouchers £4 10s., the other £4 10s. was for the conveyance of three witnesses from Cobden to Westport, for which I signed a separate voucher, also in duplicate. There could have been no confusion between June and July. The service in both cases was rendered in June, and completed on the 7th of that month, and paid for on that date. I produce the block of my receipt book showing the payment.

Captain Rough: I observe that in the form are the words, "witnessto payment," and Harris signed as witness to his own payment. That I think an irregularity. Mr Pitt asked Mr Adams to go on with any further charges, whether real or imaginary, so as to enable him to prepare his defence.

Mr Adams said that he should go on with several more charges, and give the accused the fullest opportunity of defence. One of these would be gone on with to-day, and the other chargeß would be investigated in the course of a month.

Prisoner reserved his defence? * The Justices committed the prisoner for trial on the charge before the Supreme Court. Mr Pitt applied for bail, and the Court allowed the application to stand over till the next case was considered. ANOTHER CASE. Another charge of the same kind, and involving nearly the same evidence was also laid against the prisoner, who was charged with altering a voucher which was also a duplicate for £4 10s., being the passage money paid on the 7th June, for the conveyance of three witnesses from Cobden to Westport. The alteration was made first in the body of the duplicate, by striking out " Cobden to," and making it read from " Westport to Cobden," and altering the date from 7th June to the 19th July. These facts were shown by the evidence; and on this charge also prisoner was committed for trial.

In both cases bail was refused.