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ANOTHER ABSCONDING CLERK.
£500 SAID TO HAVE BEEN STOLEN.
A warrant was issued on Thursday tor the
arrest of a man named John Letham on a
charge of embezzling certain sums of money
from Messrs. James Paterson and Co., coal
merchants, of Flinders-street. The accused,
though only 32 years of age, has been in the
employ of the firm for nearly 18 years, and
has gradually worked bis way up from office
boy to the responsible position of ledger
keeper and assistant cashier. He was
punctual and precise in bis attention to busi
ness, and no suspicions were aroused as to
biB honesty. On Monday morning last, when
he came in to business, about 9 o'clock, Mr.
Turner, tbe accountant, pointed out an
error of £10 in the cash-sheet of tbe
previous Saturday. Letham examined it
carefully, and then remarked that tbe
bank must have failed to give him that
sum when he drew tbe cash on Saturday
morning. He expressed his intention of
going to the bank to see if be could get it
rectified, and left the office. Since then he
has not been seen. Mr. Turner waited for
upwards of an hour for him to return, but as
he did not put in an appearance one of the
office boys was sent up to the bank to ascer
tain the cause of the delay. He learnt that
Letham had not been st the bank at all. A
message was next sent to his house at
Moonee Ponds, but his wife knew nothing of
his whereabouts. Suspicions were then
aroused, and an examination of his books
was commenced. It was Boon found that
there were serious defalcations. So far
about £500 is known to have been
misappropriated, but qs the exami
nation is not yet completed tbe
total amount will probably be much
larger. The frauds were perpetrated by
manipulating the books and by pilfering
Irora the petty cash, which, in such a buBi
nesB as that of Messrs. Paterson and Co.,
necessarily often contains large sums. So
much trust was placed in the accused that, as
long as his balances were correct, his books
received no systematic audit, except once a
I year, and this annual audit will begin in a
I tew dayB. Letham has a wife and three
\ young children. He was known to hare
! latterly been living a somewhat fast lite, and
to have been an habitue of racecourses, but
as he never allowed his sporting proclivities
to interfere with his business, and was sup
posed to have made money in speculation,
® integrity was never questioned.
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