CARNEY SENTENCED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 279, 24 November 1931, Page 6

CARNEY SENTENCED.

Ordered to Come up for Sentence if Called On. BANKRUPTCY OFFENCE. Observing that the offence with which prisoner was charged was one of the lesser offences under the Bankruptcy Act, Mr Justice Adams, in the Supreme Court this morning, ordered Washington Irving Carney to come up for sentence if called upon within twelve months, on a charge of contracting a debt without expectation of ability to pay it. Carney, a married man, fifty-four years of age, had been found guilty of the offence at the recent session of the Supreme Court. "Long and Trying Ordeal.” Counsel for prisoner said the fact that the general circumstances of Carney’s bankruptcy had still to be reveiwed by the Court, on the application for discharge, made it necessary for him to limit his submissions to the particular offence with which bankrupt stood convicted. The prisoner came before the Court after a long and trying ordeal, and he had been seriously punished indeed. The conviction was on the minor count, and counsel quoted the Heap's case in 1887, when the Division Court reviewed a trader in bankruptcy. After dealing with the question of keeping books, the Court passed on to the consideration of the matter of contracting debts without a reasonable expectation of paying them. The Court then said that, having regard to the fact that there were only a few small debts incurred and they were necessary for carrying on the business, the matter was not considered a serious one at all. In respect to the present case, the debt was a small one, a matter of £l7 16s 6d. For over twenty years bankrupt had been trading with Rink Taxis, Ltd., and that was the item standing at the end of that period. So long as bankrupt remained in business and was obliged to attend wool sales, a car remained a necessity. The debt was contracted largely for garage expenses, bankrupt not having a garage of his own, and from that point of view the debt was contracted really for a necessity. From what one could gather from Mr W. Hayward’s testimonv. and from between the latter and the prisoner, it was quite clear that Mr Hayward was content to let the account run on in the meantime. His Honor would probably recognise that there could be no suggestion of fraud against prisoner in respect to Rink Taxis. Counsel handed into his Honor a written statement by Mr Hayward confirming his submission. The letter, he added, testified to Carney’s honourable record in the community, and coming from a man held in as high respect as Mr Haywr * was worth something. Association with Business. It was not without interest to observe that neither in England nor in Australia was the present offence regarded as a penal one. The offence in New Zealand alone was regarded in that light, and not merely a mattj: for civic discipline. In respect to the prisoner’s occupation, counsel i that both in the interests of bankrupt and his creditors he should be permitted to pres « e his association with the wool business, which was shortly to commence. Prisoner felt as a matter of honour under an obligation in some measure to rep. his creditors, and counsel contended the only reasonable way he would be able to do so would be fc. ; reserving his association with a business he knew. Had prisoner’s offence in the present case been that of theft, counsel said he would have felt justified in askin_ for probation by virtue of his honourable record over 54 years. Even so, he submitted that the case ..as one which might be met by probation, or by ordering Carney to Cv-ne up for sentence when called upon, providing j made restitution to Rink Taxis. His Horor Impressed. “ I am impressed with what counsel for C r.ey has said, and also by the letter which ha I been handed to me Mr Hayward, and which speaks in very warm of Ca — .ov,” -nid his Honour in passing sentence. "It obviously indicates that Mr Hayward’s opinion of Carney has not been altered fc the worse by the non-payment of the account. I agree that this is one of the *esser offences under the Bankruptcy Act, and it L x.jt serious standing by itself. As has been pointed out, New Zealand appears to be the only country in which that particular offence R punis! lble. It is my duty, moreover, to entirely disregard any other matters save the matte* atually pertaining to the oilen.ce for which Carney has been found g ilty. I think, on the whole, the ends of justice .111 be served by adop ing one of the courses suggested by counsel. I shall, therefore, order, Carney to come up for sentence if called —-i within twelve months.”