THEATRICALS AT LAW

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 12, 15 January 1914, Page 8

THEATRICALS AT LAW

UNPAID PASSAGES. Walter George, a public entertainer, partner with Mr. Maynard Dakin in the company of travelling entertainers known as " The Smart Sot." was proceeded against before Mr. J. S. Evans, S.M.. on a judgment summons by Messrs. J. and N. Tait. The amount of the claim was £143, for balance of passage money from South Africa to Australia. The "creditors set out that the defendant was "about to leave New Zealand without paying such debt, and with intent to evade payment." Mr. M. Luckie appeared for the judgment creditors ,md Mr T. M. Wilford for the defendants. In his statement the defendant said that Mr. Dakin had financed the company's passages from Australia to New Zealand. Up to the time of the judgment he had drawn £5 a week. . Since then he had received £7 weekly. After the judgment witness had paid £2 weekly to the solicitor at Dunedin for J. and N. Tait. Since the 14th October he had drawn £122. " On the 13th October he sent all the money he had in hand to his wife and daughter in England. Since that date he had sent £26 Home. Altogether he had paid out £64 to his family and J. and N. Tait since the judgment, leaving' him £57 to pay his living and travelling ■ expenses. The company was working its present season with the Wellington Opera House Company on the basis of two-thirds of the gross receipts. On Monday he and Mr. Dakin received, as their share of the proceeds, some £36, on Tuesday £37, and on Wednesday £38, anticipating this evening's receipts their share of the season's receipts would amount to about £146, out of which expenses to the amount of £106 had to be paid They had been in New Zealand thirty weeks, and -had paid every single debt contracted during tne tour. The debt was incurred as money advanced as fares for the company from South Africa to Sydney. He had not the slightest intention of leaving New Zealand with the intent to defraud his creditors. He was returning to Tasmania to-morrow. Tt was a lie — a canard — that the com pany intended to visit Japan or China. The partnership between himself and Mr. Dakin would cease at Wellington. To Mr. Luckie : The tour in Christchurch, had resulted in. a loss. Excluding himself and Mr. Dakin, the weekly salary list totalled £65 for a company of eight. Mr. Dakin in the course of his evidence stated that the company had an agreement to convey its members back to Australia, and there was sufficient money for the purpose. No order was made.