EXCESSIVE INTEREST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16657, 29 September 1917, Page 6

EXCESSIVE INTEREST.

ANOTHER AUCKLAND CASE.

Another case in which an excessive rate of interest has been charged by an Auckland moneylender was -brought under the notice of Mr. V. J. Lanier, chairman of the Claims Board of the Auckland Patriotic Association, yesterday. Mr. Lanier stated that a woman whose husband was out of work at the time borrowed the sum of £20. of which she received £19 10s after paying costs. This amount was to be repaid by 35 weekly instalments of £1 each. The woman had four young children, and her husband was now in the South Island, where recently lie had obtained work. In the meantime she had become three weeks in arrears with the payments, after repaying £7, and the moneylender, now threatened to sell her furniture unless the arrears were paid immediately. The woman had two brothers at the front. Mr. Lamer said the interest worked out at 132 per cent, per annum. "It is the most outrageous case of its kind that I have yet seen," added Mr. Lamer. "It shows how these people are 'fleeting' the poor, and also shows the necessity for immediate legislation to prevent such cases in the future. I intend to forward the particulars of the, case of the Attorney-General, and action will be taken in the meantime to safeguard the woman and her children," I