LONG SEARCH ENDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 15

LONG SEARCH ENDS.

SYDNEY SOCIETY WOMAN. arrested after six months. CONTEMPT OF COURT CHARGE. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, March 10. Few people have to their credit such an achievement as that of Mrs. Ainiee Belle Edols, an attractive woman wellknown in society circles in Sydney for many years past. In July of last year she sequestrated her estate, and the Court sought from her more details of her assets in Victoria. These she declined to give, and a warrant was issued for her arrest on a charge of contempt of Court. Then she disappeared, and for more than six months she evaded arrest, despite the fact that only once did she venture out of the city. For most of the time Mrs. Edols sheltered in the maze of fiats in tho King's Cross area at Darlinghurst, and all efforts to arrest her were in vain until she decided to move her quarters. She selected a humble cottage at Double Bay, a fashionable seaside suburb, and that, it appears, was her undoing. A sheriff's officer found her and she was taken into custody and removed to the debtors' prison at Long Bay. In her statement to the Court Mrs. Edols set out her unsecured liabilities as £26,000, and her assets, consisting of property in Victoria, as £45,000. She was asked for further particulars of her assets, and when these were not supplied she disappeared Her husband and other relatives were frequently examined in an effort to trace her whereabouts, but they could not give any information. Her daughter said that she had received mysterious messages to the effect that her mother was quite well, but beyond that she was unable to give the Court any information. It was known that Mrs. Edols had friends and relatives in country districts in New South Wales, and these districts were frequently visited, without success, by the sheriff's officers. One officer moved in the best society in the course of his search, but was unable to find any trace of Mrs. Edols. although he learned that she was in Sydney. He bided his time, and his chance came when she decided to leave the fiat in which she had been hiding for more than three months. When Mrs. Edols appeared before tho Bankruptcy Court on the day after her arrest she' had no application prepared and professed that she did not understand the proceedings and what was expected of her. The Judge insisted that she did understand and that she was anxious to secure her release. The only way that could be done was to comply with the requirements of the law. Until she had obeyed the Court she would have to remain in custody. When Mrs. Edols appealed to the Judge to grant her a private interview the Judge indignantly refused, and said that he was not her legal adviser. It was her duty to seek advice from her solicitor, and as she had no application to make to the Court she would have to go back to her original custody.