“AN IMPUDENT ROGUE”

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 56, 30 November 1926, Page 10

“AN IMPUDENT ROGUE”

BANKRUPT GREEK MONEY SENT AWAY TO PARENTS Dominion Special. Dunedin, November 29. “He seems to have been deliberately swindling his creditors by sending money to his father in Greece. A rogue like that doesn’t deserve 1 ' any consideration at all; an impudent rogue at that.” These were the remarks of Mr. Justice Sim in respect to Constantine Soumaras, of Dunedin, a bankrupt restaurant keeper. _ Soumaras, who had applied for his discharge from bankruptcy at a previous sitting of the Court, appeared on this occasion in connection with an application made bv Mr. W. L. Moore, under section '62 of the Bankruptcy Act, for an order for the payment of monev towards the discharge of bankrupt’s debts. It was stated that Soumaras, a Greek by birth, had arrived in New Zealand in 1915,. and had been in various businesses in the city. Elis debts were £llOO odd. In a statement bankrupt said that money sent home to Greece by him had been earned by him during the Exhibition. If he had been content, like most people, to work till 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening, he could not. have made more than a few shillings a day. He knew, however, that Ins parents, who were between sixty . and seventv vears of age, were destitute, and suffering great hardship, like most of his countrymen, and consequently he worked all night, and sometimes till 20r3 in the morning. It was true that he bad sent the money out of New Zealand, but if his people had been Greeks, living in New Zealand, he would have had to maintain them. During the last week of the Exhibition the conditions were such that he had to sleep at odd times, and never went to bed at all. k His Honour: He seems to have deliberately swindled his creditors. The question is, what is to be done with him ? : , , . _ Mr. Moore suggested that Soumaras should be ordered to pay £1 a week. He said that Soumaras was earning money, but tliey could not find out how much. The Assignee pointed out that there were a number of preferential claims. His Honour ordered the bankrupt to pay £1 a week to the Official Assignee, the payments to commence on December 6,'until lie had paid a sum sufficient to satisfy all the preferential claims in full, and pav a dividend of 5s in the £1 to the ordinary creditors. Tlie application for discharge would be adjourned until Soumaras had complied with an order as to payment.