HIRE-PURCHASE SYSTEM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19891, 9 March 1928, Page 12

HIRE-PURCHASE SYSTEM

,CHIEF JUSTICE'S COMMENT.

THEFT TO PAY INSTALMENTS.

ACCUSED GRANTED PROBATION.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] ■ WANGANUI, Thursday.

The lure of the racecourse and the burden of hire-purchase agreements were, according to the Chief Justice, Sir Charles SkciTett, "important factors in the downfall of Ernest Nelson Butler, who •in the Supreme Court to-day was admitted to probation for' three years for theft of a postal packet. Butler bought a and paid a deposit of £ls, and had to pay instalments of £3 a month. He also pat himself in the samo position in regard to a piano, on which he had to pay £2 a month. Feeling that he could not keep up his payments he mortgaged his furniture, on which he had to pay £3 17s a month, out of wages of £24 a month. His Honor said Butler ought to have adopted the proper course to get rid of these hire-purchase agreements, which were proving to be pernicious to many young people in the Dominion. Prisoner had also frequented the races. His Honor said that only under exceptional circumstances did he grant probation, but in this case circumstances almost compelled liiru to do so. There was no doubt that money spent on the racecourse had been an incentive to the committing of the offence. In granting probation His Honor did so on the condition that the prisoner paid the costs of the prosecution, and that he did not attend races or make bets.