A hundred years ago
From the 'Spectator, 1 May I869—The Directors of the Imperial Gas Company have issued a report upon the defalcations of Benjamin Higgs, their clerk on £145 a year, who has robbed their masters of f71,000. His success in his frauds was due, it would seem, to his ability and the Directors meanness and incompetence. He had been seventeen years with them, and was so able that he had obtained the "entire control of the outer office," but they only gave him £3 a week. He induced the collectors to deposit their collec- tions as well as the lists with him, then falsified the lists, stopped part of the moneys, and sent the rest to the bank. No director or auditor . appointed by the directors suspected anything, or missed any money, or wondered what had become of some £10,000 a year, or ever heard that the clerk was living at an expense of thousands a year, or, in fact, knew anything that he ought to have known. The directors propose that the loss should be distributed over seven years, and their auditors are "unable to suggest any im= provement" in the system of accounts, which is absolutely perfect, and if the collectors only paid the money into the bank, could not break down. We will venture to suggest one. Let them appoint Higgs their auditor, as the only man in the Company with brain enough to know that no system of accounts can "check" the accountants who manage it. That requires a Higgs, a man who will really attend to his business, and obtain "complete control" over the office.
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