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necessitated his suspension pending reference to Your Lordship
The circumstances of the case as disclosed in the accompanying papers are shortly as follows: Certain public monies were received by Mr. Prior as Clerk to the Pine Brigade for the settlement of claims bills which in the ordinary course had been sent in for payment. A portion of this money, especially an amount of $175 due to Lammert, Atkinsons, & Co., he used in payment of his private debts and he induced a Chinese clerk at the Magistracy to sign a cheque in the name of the firm, though he were the Chinese employee of the traders referred to.
When attention was drawn to what had actually occurred, the money was immediately paid, and the account settled before the matter was brought to my notice. Thus instead of ordering legal proceedings to be taken against Mr. Prior, I adopted the course required by the Colonial Regulations and called on him for an explanation of his conduct. This explanation was, as might have been expected, unsatisfactory.