SENT BACK TO GAOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21144, 30 March 1932, Page 7

SENT BACK TO GAOL.

SOCIETY WOMAN'S ASSETS. FAILURE TO SUPPLY DETAILS. SHARP CROSS-EXAMINATION. [FROM Ol'R OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] SYDNEY. March '24. Mrs. Aimee Belle Edols, a prominent Sydney society woman, who has been in Long Bay gaol for nearly a fortnight for conlempt of Court, again appeared before the Registrar in Bankruptcy, Mr. Norman | Lockhart, last week. She failed to give ! (let ails of the £45,000 assets which she j alleges she has in Victoria, and was rej mi tied lo her former custody in Long j Bay Gaol. Jn care of a wardress Mrs. Edols was | brought from Long Bny gaol, where she j has been since her arrest for contempt of i Court, to face the registrar. I . ! Mure than si\" months ago, in the same ■ Court, Mrs. Edols refused lo givu the ! registrar and the official receiver, Mr. j C. W. Lloyd, details of tho £45,000. Later, Mr. Justice Lukin committed her to gaol for contempt of Court, but she evaded service of the warrant for six months. Mrs. Edols sequestrated her estate on her own petition on July 16, 1931. Her unsecured liabilities aggregate £26,000, and her assets, consisting of property in Victoria, are set down at £45,000. Showing the effects of long strain, Mrs. Edols appeared somewhat nervous as the official receiver rose to question her. Her husband sat near her and the Court was crowded. "On the day of my disappearance," said Mrs. Edols, "I was not in a position to say where my assets in Victoria were. Later on, I became very ill, and went to stay with friends. 1 had no idea of disregarding the order of the Court." Mrs. Edols added that she had later gone to Melbourne, and, returning to Sydney, stayed in a flat at Darlinghurst from August 13 until her arrest. Do you still refuse to answer about these £45,000 assets in Victoria ?—1 do not refuse to answer, but at present I am not in a position to say. Are not these £45,000 assets a myth ? I say that these £45,000 assets are not a myth. The Registrar: Do you refuse to answer the Court about, these £45,000 assets? Mrs. Edols (hesitatingly) : 1 really do not refuse, Mr. Registrar, but I am not in a position to give the information at present. " Contemptuous Conduct." Mr. Lloyd: Don't you realise that your conduct in not supplying this material information is most contemptuous ? Mrs. Edols: 1 realise that. Have you drawn any of this £45,000 to maintain yourself during your disappearance ?—No, I did not. Are you not aware that your contemptuous conduct is liable to keep you in prison for an indefinite period ? Mrs. Edols (calmly) : Yes. Mrs. Edols said that she had had certain monetary advances from Mrs. Styles, but she could not say the exact amount. Tho registrar directed Mm Edols to supply the Court with an account of all the money she had received since the sequestration of her estate. Mr. Lloyd: You received about £3OO from Mrs. Styles some time before you were arrested ? Mrs. Edols: Yes, but I can't say what I did with it. Was not this lady the widow of- one of the Greycliffe disaster victims ?—Yes. Mrs. Edols said that when she had received the £3OO from Mrs. Styles she had not communicated the fact to her husband. Mr. Lloyd: Do you remember telling an officer from my office that you would complete your statement of affairs in your own time? —I may have. Request for More Time. I want to know when you are going to complete your statement of affairs ?—1 may bo able to do so in a week's time. You have said that on several occasions. I cannot accept this answer. Yoii are merely trifling with the Court. What is the real reason that you won't let the Court know about theso Victorian assets? —1 have every intention of doing so, but not just at present. I want a little more time, say, another week. Mr. Lloyd (indignantly): You are wilfully defying the Court, and 1 do not think that you intend to give tho information. The Registrar (sternly) : Mrs. Edols, you are taking up a position of defiance to this Court. You have again refused to answer, and I shall report your conduct and your refusal lo the Bankruptcy Judge. Mrs. Edols (with a slight loss of her head and a shrug of her shoulders) : I understand. "Mr. Registrar," she added, "I want you (o understand that I am not refusing to answer. I' only want a little more time, and I shall then complete my statement of affairs." , Mrs. Edols was then remitted to her former custody, and sho left Court accompanied by tho wardress and her husband.