BANKRUPT CHINAMAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 162, 11 July 1925, Page 9

BANKRUPT CHINAMAN.

• . MONTH IN GAOL. BREACHES OF ACT. (K.r Telegraph.— Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, this day. On several charges of contracting debts when he must have known that he had no reasonable or probable expectation of paying them, a bankrupt Chinese fruiterer named Ah Moon, appeared before Mr. W. H. Platts, 0.M.G., S.M., at the Hamilton Court yesterday. Mr. 11. T. Gillies, Crown solicitor, prosecuted, accused being represenfbd by Mr. Paterson. Mr. Gillies said that Ah Moon had been interested in four different fruit businesses in the Waikato, in three of which he appeared to have lost money. He hiUßt have knoWn in September, 1924, that he was hopelessly insolvent, yet after that time he contracted a number of debts, when he could not have had any expectation of being able to pay. The defence was that Ah Moon had been in three businesses in partnerships and in each case had been unfortunate. His own business had been sold by the assignee at a £40 increase on the purchase price. His dealings with the creditors had been in the nature of a current account, and though bankrupt' realised last winter that his affairs were not satisfactory, he -was in expectation of improving them during tlie summer trade. He was pressed, however, before he recovered his position. His Worship, after hearing the evidence, said he was satisfied that bankrupt had brought himself within the general clauses of the Bankruptcy Act. He had contracted debts when he had no reasonable or probable expectation of paying them. He went front one business to another, carrying to each a legacy of loss and debt. He certainly had been recklessly trading and incurring debts with no prospect of paying them. His own countrymen had condemned him. His Worship could see no alternative to sending him to gaol. He would be sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labour. ' z