HARSH USURY.

Shannon News, 2 June 1925, Page 1

HARSH USURY.

MONEY-LENDING AKIN TO BLACKMAIL. THE BISHOP’S CIRCULARS. LONDON, March 19. One can imagine W. S. Gilbert playing with the idea of the House of Lords passing nemine contradicente a Bill to restrain money-lenders as a theme for his peculiar wit. This is what happened yesterday in our Upper House. The Bill is fathered by Lord Carson, and his long speech in support contains a wealth of incidents which will long remain a mine of information for those whose work is to preach about the horrors of usury. Lord Carson's view may be summed up: “Money-lending is akin to blackmail. A Bill is far overdue, and it is no use trifling with the question.” Lord Carson, it 1 appeared, has been drawn into the cause by seeing the evil brought on a member of his family, who as the result of backing horses got into ' a money-lender’s clutches. In four yearß he has paid all his borrowings, plus 50 per cent, compound interest, and stilt owed £6OO.

Lord Carson denounced the touting system, the pernicious practice of searching for victims, and of pestering them by ringing them up at their employment; and he inveighed strongly against the custom of womeh lending small sums at interest which sometimes worked out at 866 per cent.

He read many circulars, and mentioned a clergyman who got 62 in one month. Another clergyman, who had borrowed £7O, paid three times that amount, and still owed the full sum.

The Bishop of Southwark gave his personal experience and told the horrified peers that he always got three or four money-lenders’ circulars after Derby Day. He mentioned the case of a clergyman wh@ borrowed £6O, and within five months was owing £6OO.

As everyone who has followed such cases know the only check on a money-lender has been what a Judge calls “harsh and unconscionable interest.” In the notorious case of Hobbs sentenced last week to two years’ prison for his dealings in the “Mr. A” case it has been asserted that his money-lending operations were planned to circumvent any judge’s decision by the simple device of lending the money ostensibly at a reasonable rate but by extracting money in addition for more or less worthless goods to get what was in effect “harsh and unconscionable interest.” Mn. Justice Darling who had extensive knowledge in his court of such rascals said it was really difficult for a judge to decide what was harsh. A certain Judge, he said, once put the question: "On what terms would you lend a mutton chop to a starving dog?” The proposed standard of 15 per cent, he said, would bo a great help to Judges. Lord Darling made the suggestion that the real name not only of the money-lender, but of his grandfather, should be .disclosea. As all the world knows, money-lenders almost invariably camouflage their real names under Scottish or high-sounding English' names. As Lord Darling said, we were often led to suppose that the ancestor of the money-lender fought at the battle of Hastings, but usually turned out that he was associated with an earlier military exploit—the passage of the Red Sea!”