APPLICATION REFUSED

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 154, 25 March 1920, Page 5

APPLICATION REFUSED

FOR BENEWAL OV -LAND AGENT'S LICENSE. ■ \ p v Telegraph—Preps Association ' . j Christchurch, March 24. ! An application made to the Magis- ! trato by.Alfred Avery, on behalf of the I Craddocks Agency Comnany, Ltd., for re- j ncwal of a land agent's license, was opposed by the Land Agents' Association j on the ground that applicant was ' an habitual non-payer of debts, and that- I during the past seven or eight years . j sixty or seventy summonses had been | served on Mm from various sources. i

Counsel for the applicant urged that be<!nuso some creditors had used tho Court to recover debts owing by applicant, it was no reason why a license should be refused and the applicant debarred from earning a livelihood. Avery had always paid 20s. in -the- pound, and to-day was solvent. The necessary bond had been given, mid applicant's suitableness to hold the license testified to. No objection had been raised in the post, and' if the license were now withheld it would result in a loss to the shareholders iu the company. Counsel submitted that no reasonable proline! had been brought forward to challenge the issue of a license.

Tim Magistrate said that' the primary duty of the Court in such cases was to protect the nublic. "While a person might be a fit man to hold a license, the Court had to consider the question of his. finances, as an agent in poor financial circumstances was open to temptation. There was nothing in the present case against the character, of the applicant, but it had been shown, that he had been sued for various accounts, and at tho present time was .owing a matter of .£75 on a land transaction. In new of those circumstances he could not see his way to grant the application, whicli was accordingly refused.