New Britain herald., 1916-06-21

which said that during Mr. Austins s regime as collector he had handled over S2OO, 900 of the towns money and only approximately $40 was. missing According to that account that is an excellent record. MT. Lewis said he agreed it was a good record, but the story failed to say that the special committee of the an nual town meeting had found s1,195 missing and later it was turned over to the town treasurer. He failed to see why the former collector should have the use of that money without raying interest and he had computed the latter as tOtalling $275. MT. Lewis here made it plain he was not criticising the writer of the story, but the source of his information.
 Says Austin Holds Money
 Continuing, MT. Lewis said that Mir Austin had collected and not turned ever a sum of money. When he sent out bills for back taxes, several people sl owed him receipts for the amount. It was a funny coincidence that the pages of 1901 should be missing and the summary of those pages gone dtSO, ne Sd1Q. On l1aL DOOR alone, he claimed, there is still S17379 miss irg and with the rate of interest this sum would be doubled and MT. Austin has had the use of that sum since that year MT. Lewis then as- serted he favOrs clean, upright gov- ernment and does not like to do this dirty work He suggested that the matter be cleaned up and the town move as it ought to do.
 Major Wilcox then asked for an itemized report of the alleged dis crepanctes MT Lewis replied that the bulk of that is on the last year of Mir. Austin's term. Also since 1901, there is difference of S37 between the collector and the town treasurer, he said. Mir. Lewis claimed that MT. Austin should be charged interest on the $1,195 for the time he had it and also gave figures from other years upon which interest should be charged He estimated MT. Austin's total indebtedness to the town ss $75O. Theodore Savage suggested that the town look to the bond holders.
 Austin Replies.
 Mr. Austin said the auditors had found a shortage in his accounts of S3781. Mr. Lewis assures you that he has no personal feeling" he said. His demeanor shows that. He claims I owe so much interest If taxes are not paid for three years after being due, I certainly am not liable for them since the time they were due. The law says that all money be turned into the town treasurer on the fifth of the month following cOllec- ton. All along, l have advocated assistance in strengthening out the matter and I furnished the special committee all it asked for. l regret exceedingly this dirty business. I am ready to face anything. I never left one town to go to another, for I have lived here all my life"
 MT. Lewis then read the dates on which MT. Austin turned in his col lection. They varied from the third to the twentieth of various months. As to whether the interest has been computed accurately or not, I defy any man to compute them accurately from the condition of the books. Don't let him bluff you." he said
 Fair Play.
 William Durham inquired the use of bondsmen. Recently he received a bill from Mir. Lewis for taxes twen- ty-seven years old. The property had changed hands several times during that time and he knew the taxes had been paid. But rather than go to the trouble of looking un-