PROTECTING SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 230, 23 June 1919, Page 6

PROTECTING SOLDIERS

FROM ACTION FOR DEBT

EXPLANATION BY ATTORNEYGENERAL

The following statement has been prepared by the Hon. the Attorney-General explaining tho operation of the Soldiers" Protection Regulations, 1919: — Some time after the declaration of wat it was found necessary to make provision by War Regulations protecting men then joining the Expeditionary Forces, and those who had already joined those Forces, from undue pressure by creditors. Jn July, 1916, the first regulations on the subject wero gazetted, making provision that a soldier might not bo arrested oi proceeded against under certain statutes without the previous consent of a military authority. When compulsory enlistment became "the law in 191G it was found necessary to extend the scope of the pro. tection, as it was obvious that the men coiled up might in many cases find themselves in consequent financial difficulty and in danger of undue pressure. There'fore, in March, 1917, further regulations wero passed, making provision that the ■ previous consent in writing of the Attor. ney-General should be necessary before , tho issue <0f any execution against the proporty of a soldier, or the seizure or sale of such under distress for rent, o> the filing of any petition in bankruptcy against a soldier. By a later regulation the Attorney-General was required to obtain the report of a Stipendiary Magistrate before deciding whether or not lift would permit the process. So far as is known there has been no objection to those regulations, nor have those regulations in any. manner prevented the families or representatives of men absent on service with the Expeditionary Forces from obtaining credit. But thoso regulations protected a man from process only so long as ho remained a member of the Expeditionary forces and was in receipt of military pay. More recently the position of ■ the meii who have been discharged from the Expeditionary Forces, and thereby placed beyond the limits of protection, has demanded the consideration first of Parliament by statute, and then of the Government by regulation. It was felt to bo impossible to refuse somo _ measure oi special protection to soldiers returned from the war and beginning again their work. of earning their livelihood as civilians. Therefore Parliament in tho year 1918; by section 26 of tho War Legislation Act, empowered tho General-in-Council to make such provision as he deemed just and necessary for the protection of discharged soldiers from the execution of civil process, proceedings in bankruptcy, forfeitures, distress for rent or re-entry, exercise of a mortgagee's power of sale, or the enforcement in any other manner of the civil obligations or liabilities -of discharged' soldiers. Tho Government could not avoid exercising the powers thus conferred upon it, and therefore advised His Excellency to make the regulations of May 2, 1919, preventing execution or bankruptcy process against, or the powers against, tho property of discharged soldiers without the previous consent of tho Attorney-General, which consent can only be given under the recommendation of a Stipendiary Magistrate. It is'perfectly clear that neither the Stipendiary Magistrate in his recommendation, nor the Attorney-General in the exercise of his powers, would refuse leave to a creditor to proceed in the ordinary manner in any case where it was' fair and right that such process should be issued. In several cases under the preceding regulations relating to men actually called up for service- tho permission 'of the AttorneyGeneral was granted to issUe execution or commenco bankruptcy proceedings where it was considered that the soldier was taking undue advantage of tho regulations to defeat the just claims of his creditors. It has l>eon said that the effect of this limited protection is that re, tuxned soldiers are unable to obtain credit. But it may be pointed out that the same objection has been raised in relation to analogous legislation protecting soldiers and their wives froni eviction from their houses, and to legislation of the same nature affecting the whole public, such as the Mortgages Extension Act. In the case of the Mortgages Extension Act mortgagors were allowed to contract themselves out of the protection, with the result that every mortgage* inserted a. clause to that effect, and consequently the Act very shortly became practically inoperative. The same result would follow in , tho .case of the necessary protection afforded by the regulations relating to discharged soldiers' if contracting out were permitted. But in any case the Government has the duty , imposed upon it of ensuring that the men who are now entering upon their new avocations shall not be unfairly harassed in the first yeat of their exertions, and the Government cannot \ believe that a.ny traders will iefuse to deal with a discharged soldier on the sole ground that the traders would have to obtain the consent of the Attor-ney-General before selling up the property of'the soldier or making him bankrupt. It was, however, represented to' Ui6 Government that banks and the largo trading concerns were in most : cases required by their respective constitutions to advance only upon unrestricted security, and to meet such cases the amend-, ing regulations of June 2 havo been gazetted, enabling process to be pursued by that class, without the consent of the Attorney-General, where the proceedings are to secure the balance of a trading account current. The exemption is liru.ited to bagks and approved trading companies and approved merchants, the approval being necessary to prevent ordinary money-lenders and that class of dealer from having unlimited power to harass the debtor. The antecedent approval of the Attorney-General of any trader as an approved merchant will. enable that trader to take any process to recover the balance of his account current with a discharged soldier without further permission from the Attorney-General. v No legitimate trader can now offer any reasonable objection to the protection, or hjive any ground for refusing credit to a returned soldier. i The following classes of soldiers and discharged soldiers are protected, by the regulations from process without the consent of the Attorney-General, but only for the psriods hero defined:— (1) A soldier who is still a member of the Expeditionary Force is protected until his disehaige and for twelve months thereafter. (2) A discharged soldier is protected for the period of twelve months from the date of his discharge, but no longer. The protection applies in respect of debt? of the soldier incurred after, as well as before, his discharge. (3 An assisted discharged soldier-that is, a discharged soldier who is indebted to the Crown in respect of a loan granted to him under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act or the Repatriation Actis protected so long as his debt to the Crown remains unpaid.