Morris Hedstrom Clerk Charged
p. 40 · Read in the full issue
With Stealing £1787
„ From Our own correspondent
A Nukualofa, Dec. 6.
TRUSTED clerk, employed for many years by Messrs. Morris Hedstrom, Ltd., Nukualofa, Stanley Hosea Brown, aged about 35, a Euronesian, was charged with embezzling £1787, the property of his employers.
The evidence suggested that Brown, who was in charge of the books, handled the cash and did the banking, made false entries in the cash book, purporting
to show that £787 had been debited to the firm’s head office, Suva, and £lOOO had been deposited in the Tonga Gov ernment Savings Bank, Nukualofa.
The thefts, which extended from May. 1938 to November, 1940, were revealed by an audit by Mr. C. W. Aidney, of Suva.
It is considered surprising that suspi cion was not aroused sooner, for Brown’s extravagant mode of life had been a matter of “beach comment” for a con siderable time. On the other hand, Brown was very well known and popu lar, and regarded as a model of trust worthiness and respectability.