ESTABLISHED 1866, The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1914. DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 167, 18 July 1914, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866, The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1914. DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.

A Bill of considerable importance to the 'business community was discussed! in the House of Representatives •on Wednesday. , This was tihe Imprisonment for Debt Limitation Bill introduced by Mr Hindmarsh, the Member for Wellington. South. Mr Hindmarsh, who is a lawyer by profession, is of opinion that the system under which judgment summonses are dealt with is one which frequently entails considerable hardship upon perfectly honest people who find themselves temporarily unable to liquidate their just debts. Especially does there appear to be some need for reform in the way judgment orders are made. Very often, so Mr Hindniiarsh told the House, an order was made in the absence of the defendant, who might be unable to at^ tend through a quite legitimate and unavoidable cause. At present a magistrate has no power to re-hear a case, ajid cannot cancel or vary an ! order. It is proposed by the Bill to ' give the magistrate power to hear a case again if the circumstances seem to warrant it, and then to cancel or vary an order made, even by way of making it more severe. It was a fact within his knowledge, said Mr Hindmarsh, that orders were sometimes made against men which should not have been made, and this happened the "more often the men we^re too poor to pay for professional advice. Another proposal in the Bill is that no adjournment fees should be payable in respect of judgment summons cases. These fees are, it is said, ■ frequently used by debt-collecting

agencies as a means of getting money out of debtors, which the debtors ought not to have been required to pay. On the whole the Bill, met with o. vory favorable reception. Mr Statham, M.P. for Dunedin Central, and, like Sir Hind-marsh", a member of the legal profession, said that while the principle'of th© law as it now stands was not to encourage vindictiveness on the part ,of creditoi-s, h© believed that there was room for some such improvement in •fahe law as was provided by the Bill, so thati creditors should be prevented from harassing honest debtors who were doing their best to discharge ■their liabilities. The Bill also received the support of two other lawyers, Messrs Hanan <an«l Sidey. A note of caution, however, was sounded by Mr Lee, the Member for Oama.ru, who objected to the proposed' remission of adjournment fees which went towards meeting the cost of •maintaining the Courts and of the administration generally: of justice. Mr Lee ■expressed the hope that'when the Bill reached Committee provisions would be inserted to ensure the prevention of debtors from playing fast and loose with the Courts. Mr Lee, who is himself a lawyer, could no doubt—as could practically every lawyer in New Zealand—quote cases where debtors quite impudently disregard summonses and Court orders, and often resort to the meanest devices to escape being made to pay their just debts. Paa'liameht is perfectly justified in protecting the honest debtor; but there is, we are afraid, nay, we know, a quite numerous class of people who deliberately run into debt with tradespeople with an equally deliberate idea of disregarding their financial responsibilities. In far too many cases moiiey which ought first to be devoted to the payment of storekeepers and of other debts is diverted to the racecourse or to various forms' of amusement. ■_. No doubt there exist cases where judgment summonses are improperly issued, or where sufficient -allowance is not made for the unavoidable absence of a debtor. In such oases an amendment of 'the'present law, as regards the re-hearing, of at case, or the varying 'of an order, such as is provided, for by Mr Hihdmarsh's Bill, is highly desirable/'''. But some consideration is due.to the creditor as well as to the Storekeepers who have to. nieet their, merchants!1 [bills, rent, taxes, '. rates, and; other liabilities can he,anil frequently are put to serious "inconvenience and actual monetaryVioss. by careless or dishonest customer^, and it is as justly neoessajy that they should be protected as that the State should regard an honest but unfortunate debtor with any special benevolence. During the debate the old question of "too much credit" quite naturally cropped up, Mr, C. A. Wilkinson, the Member for Egmdnij, who in private life is, we believe,., a-storekeeper, advocating a new,, clause in tihe Bill making it impossible for a trader t« recover by legal morris any sum under £10. Restriction of credit would, lie contended, be good for boi-h the workers ..and the country• This view was: siipported by Mr Payne, the Member for ..Grey Lynn. Sir. Joseph Ward, however, very sensibly pointed out that denying the trader the right .£ to recover sums under £10 would, 0 inevitably mean that the storekeepers would refuse to give any. credii^jto; ;#.".worker. In his opinion an immense harm ■■would be done to tlw. L.ciasses w^re such a l^toiction ; imposed. Sir Joseph fortified his -argument; by referring to the tliousands of;, casual worker employed by the Railway, and Public Works departments. [ It was, he said, right enough for the man ■ who was in a permanent position and was not dependent upon his work every day to keep his home going; but a pool' and quite honest man might be temporarily out'of work. Such a man, with a family depending upon Kirn for its food supply, would be pre.vented from obtaining any credit to tide him over a $hort period; of unemployment were-"Mr.-Wilkinson's sug-. g-estion to be aidopted. Eventually the Bill was referred to the Statutes Revision Commi^teej the AttorneyGeneiial, Mr Headman, promising tih© House that the.? Governmenti would ensure the measure getting faia* >considei'ation later;i: on in the session. When the Bill does some up again in the House we irust tl>at while providing for the rerhearing of oases and the varying of orders, -as proposed by Mr Hindmarsh, .nothing will be done to encourage, even indirectly^ the cairelessly or deliberately extravagant debtor, a <jlass..-alL:too- 'numerous in New Zealand. .