UNDISCHARGED BANKRUPT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 31 October 1924, Page 2

UNDISCHARGED BANKRUPT.

IN .JUDGMENT SUMMONS CASE. AN ODDER MADE. Billy Ngeru was adjudged, a bankrupt in May, 1920, and although the D.O.A. subsequently discovered a banking account in the Maori’s name and paid the creditors 20s in the £1 therefrom, Billy did not take the necessary steps to obtain bis discharge, and consequently when lie was proceeded against iinder a. judgment summons at the Hawera Magistrate’s Court the case was temporarily adjourned when he announced firom the witness box that he was an undischarged bankrupt. When the case was brought on yesterday, Mr Malone, for the judgment creditor (-Joseph Mathis) said that in October, 1922, his client obtained a judgment in respect of moneys lent prior to bankruptcy and afterwards. When the summons was heard, the debtor did not comply with the requirements of the Act, which provided that lie must plead bankruptcy, but allowed judgment to be entered by default. In September, 1924, the creditor issued proceclings under the Imprisonment for Debt Limitations Act, but when . the judgment summons came on for hearing the debtor stated under examination that he was an undischarged bankrupt, and the proceedings weire accordingly adjourned to enable inquiries to be made. Mr Malone pointed out that the judgment obtained in 1922 created a fresh debt in the shape of a judgment debt, and the judgment was therefor© a good one. Tli© judgment could have been proved in the bankruptcy, as it was created six months afterwards, and therefore the present proceedings were in order. The magistrate agreed, and ordered that the debtor’s - bank pass book be produced. This when produced showed that Billy had had ample means of paying. The withdrawal from his account on Tuesday last of £3O, which the native said was for dresses for his “Missus,” was the subject of comment by the Magistrate, who pointed out that the amount constituted the largest personal cheque* drawn by Billy during the past two years. Debtor admitted that he had attended the recent race meeting at Wayerley, and other race meetings held since judgment was obtained in 1922, and the magistrate made an order directing the payment cf the debt of £9B 17s, £2O of which must he paid by November 1, and the balance in monthly instalments of £5. Penalty for default was fixed at three mouths’ imprisonment. The magistrate pointed out that the debtor was an undischarged bankrupt, and that every time he obtainedcredit without disclosing the fact that lie was an undischarged bankrupt, he committed a crime under the Act whereby he was liable to imprisonment. At one stage of the proceedings the native pleaded that he did not know the law. and said, “I am only a Maori.” but the magistrate pointed out that he* knew enough to plead bankruptcy when brought up under a judgment summons.