MORTGAGE RELIEF

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 27, 1 February 1934, Page 9

MORTGAGE RELIEF

! EFFECT OF LAW. ! traders who give credit. I COURSE OPEN TO CUSTOMER. The far-reaching effect of the amendment made to the Mortgagors and Tenants Relief Act last session was the subject of a communication to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce this morning by Mr. K. F. Ward, manager of the Guardian Trust. "Tho attention of the commercial community should," Mr. Ward wrote, "be drawn particularly to section 10 of the Act, which consolidated the law relating to mortgagors and tenants' relief. This section made a new and striking departure from previous legislation." The clause, said Mr. Ward, would appear to have the following effect:— "If any merchant or retailer, or anyone else at all in business, gives credit to any customer who is in tho happy position of being a mortgagor, such customer will only have to file an application for relief and give notice thereof to his creditor, and will thereupon prevent the latter from taking any steps to enforce payment of his debt without leave of the Court. "It would seem, therefore," Mr. Ward added, "that merchants and traders in future, before giving credit to any customer, will have to inquire whether such customer is in the unique position of not being a mortgagor." Mr. A. G. liunn said that this legislation was apparently going to damage all systems of credit and defeat all the laws relating to trading. Mr. G. Jackson commented that a mortgagor, whatever other assets he might have, would be placed in the position of being able to defer payment. The president, Mr. Harvey Turner, suggested that a copy of Mr. Ward's communication should be sent to every member of tho Chamber of Commerce. That was decided upon, and it was also suggested that Mr. Ward's interpretation of the clause should be verified by the chamber's solicitor, and that the Government Department be asked if the interpretation was a correct one.