THE ENDLESS CHAIN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1733, 25 April 1913, Page 5

THE ENDLESS CHAIN.

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PROCESSION OF THE DEBTORS. One-half of the world may not know how tho other half lives, but the peoplo whose particular penance it is to spend many of their days growing glum and sceptical in i tho cheerless, atmosphere, of the Magistrate's Court would, gladly never learn how somo peoplo live. Week iii week out there moves along through the chamber tho endless procession of those hapless ones, the debtors—a never-ending chain. ' Yesterday a labouring man stepped into the box and stated that his inability to pay was due to his having been for fifteen months 1 aid-up in tho hospital. In addition his wife had been ill for four and a half years. They had two children, and now that ho was better ho is earning £2 Vs. per week—sometimes. Tho Court refused to make an. order against tho debtor for payment of tho debt* tho labourer mbved on, and mndo way for tho next link in tho chain. A portly ruddy-faced man in good clothing and of somewhat grandiloquent manner, , filled the ijrcach. , "This debt is for groceries"? enid tho creditor's solicitor. "Well," answered tho debtor, clasping liis linnds and looking importantly over bis spectacles—"well,,l guess it is." "Don'l; guess," observed tho magistrate. "Yon must know." < "Yes, yes" I said the stout debtor fussily. "I think it is for groceries; in fact 1 know it'is." The magistrate: First ..vou-guess, then you think; now you know. That's positive, comparative, superlative. The debtor went ou to explain that bo W4s a clerk who earned ,C 3 per week, jiaidi ,1!1 ss. in rent, and had a wife find a child to maintain. 110 was ngreeablo to air order for tho payment of tho debt a(. tho rale of half-a-crown . per month.

The Court made the order—but fho dofondant talked on.

"All -right, all right, old chap," «iid tlio patient magistrate at last, "you'd belter run along to work now." "Dobcrt So-and-So! Kobert So-and-So!"

cried tho orderly, and a rotund tradesman steppeijl into tho box. At tho sanio time u lawyer walked up towards tho bench, and hnnd&l up to tlio magistrate a book like an ordinnry diary. "I have grappled manfully with tho bonks of this man," said the lawyer to the magistrate, "and this is tho result:

[ find that his gross takings are .£sl in :hree months, and his outgoings £'S! 3s. Id. for wages and other tilings'." The magistrate: That leaves .Ell to lay for stores, etc.

Tho debtor's lawyer added' that his client had a largo number of children to ■keep.

Then the lawyer who represented tlio creditor moved up towards the witnessbox. "Itow much a week," ho asked, looking knowingly nt tlio defendant, "do you spend in beer"? Tlio debtor: "I never touch beer"! Tlio magistrate (gazing studiously at tho wall): "You've- struck tlio wrong drink." The lawyer: 'Well, liow much in alcoholic drinli? Tho debtor: I don't touch it.. The magistrate (to the lawyer): I know whether you nro only fishing? The lawyer: I am fishing, Tlio magistrate: AYell, there's not much fish in this water. Tho lawyer: You say.you are losing money. The debtor: Yes. The magistrate: Jtow can you lose what you haven't got. You mean you nro losing other people's money. ... I can't make any order. A young married nian came next, and he was followed by an artisan who had left the fifties in the background. Said a young lawyer to the, matured artisan: "Have von a job to go to when you leave the Court?" "Yes," replied the artisan. The magistrate: Yon can't niortgngo his future prospects. The young lawyer: I think an order should be made. 'I'lie magistrate: Well, you don't think the same as I do. A man with a stoop said that lie, too, also was an artisan. The magistrate: You might ask him his age. The debtor: T am To, sir. The magistrate :l)o you get « pension ? Defendant: N'o. Why: You 1 hnvn't been Tic-fore the Ccmrt lor enjoying yourself—have you? ... No order. "The Court is very useful in getting certain creditors lo strike oil' their bail debts" sighed Ihe Magistrate, as the last of the dav'- debtors stepped out of the box,