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Disappeared!
From Our Own Correspondent APIA, July 1.
THE cashier of O. F. Nelson & Co., Ltd., of Apia, recently appeared in Apia High Court before Chief Judge C. C. Marsack, charged with failure to account for £1,869/3/4 during the period between October 1949 and September 1950.
The accused, who conducted his own defence, pleaded “not guilty” and said that he could give no ex planation as to how the shortage had come about, but that he had not used the money for himself, and that he and his family were living very poorly—mostly on bananas.
Although he had been aware of the shortage all the time, he had not reported it because he was afraid of losing his job.
He had failed to keep his books up to date and had therefore made it difficult to discover the shortage which was eventually found by the auditor.
The Chief Judge, in pronouncing sentence of one year’s imprisonment, commented that accused had practised deception by hiding the shortage. On the other hand, there had been some slackness by his firm in the checking of their books.