STRONG COMMENT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 86, 10 November 1939, Page 5

STRONG COMMENT

JUDGMENT SUMMONS CASE MAGISTRATE CRITICISES CREDITOR Commenting that the plaintiff company should have made enquiries into defendant's mesiriS before issuing the judgment summons, Mr W. H. Freeman, S.M., refused to make an order against William Huia Jackson, in the Police Court on Wednesday. The claim, which was brought by Messrs Bisley and Co. of Hamilton, had been outstanding since 1932, said Mr C. A. Suckling, who appeared for the company. No effort h!acl been made by the defendant to reduce the amount owing.

In a statement from the witness box, defendant said that he had farmed a small holding on the Galatea Estate for the last tw T o and a half years. He had started with | Government assistance but the land was not too productive and last s£tlson when the extremely dry weather affected production all over the country, his cows had completely finished milking in February. He had then obtained employment on the roads and had received 18s Sd per day with wage tax and travelling expenses of 3s per day deducted. As a married man with four children the holding did not permit of anj r reduction in his liability and at the present time he had a further debt, of ,£3O, owing to the Government for hay supplied during the dry spell of last season. Defendant added that he had to have the hay to prevent his stock from starving.

Mr Suckling: But you have made no effort to pay this debt.

Defendant: I had nothing to pay it with. Mr Suckling: And you were not worrying about it? The Magistrate: What's the good of Avorrying, when you haven't got the money? You can't get blood out of a stone. Continuing his statement, defendant outlined the problems with which he and other settlers on the Galatea block were faced. The grass would not grow too well and a handicap in the development of the various holdings lay in the fact that grass had been sown over the whole section at the one time. Thus the place had to be regrassed as a whole, when re-grassing became necessary. As far as he could sec there was no possibility of his small farm producing enough to pay the money owing to Messrs Bisley and Co; a debt which he had contracted in good faith in 1931. He added that he had not enough to purchase a suit of clothes and that he had not had a holiday for the last seven years. ,

Mr Suckling: You say that you have been at Galatea for two and a half years. Yv T hat were you doing prior to that? Defendant: I was sharcmilking at Waitaku ruru. Defendant outlined the purchase of a farm at Mataioki and said that he went on to the farm when butterfat was fetching Is Id and 1s ?d per pound and then the slump caught him. He was forced to walk off and leave behind him the wholj of his life's savings, some £1000. Since then he had been working for wages and was making an attempt at success at Galatea.

In giving his decision, Mr Freeman said that it would be advisable in future for creditors to make some enquiry into the means of the person against whom they were proceeding. "Here is a case," said Mr Freeman "where a judgment summons has been hanging over a man's head since 1932. Why can't people forget sometimes that they have money owing to them. If plaintiff in this case had made any enquiries at all, it would have been found that defendant has no money. He is working on a small holding at Galatea and barely produces enough to keep himself and family. To institute ceedings in such an instance is nothing but a waste of time and a waste of plaintiff's own money.' r

• Addressing defendant, the magistrate asked: How much did it cost you to come into the Court to.-daj'?

Defendant: About fifteen shillings,

The magistrate refused to make an order and allowed costs for the defendant.