IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 16, 15 July 1893, Page 7

IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

TO THE EDITOR! Sir,- —In moving- the second reading of the Imprisonment; for Debt Bill, Premier Seddon said that' great abuse had taken place underi the preseht law. I do not know where the Premier gets his k'nbwledge from, but if his statement has any foundation, there must be some very different magistrates somewhere in .the colony' to any that have ever administered the law in South land. I , doubt very much if the Premier could point out a single case whom; an honest man, unable to pay his : debts through misfortune, has ever suffered under the present law. I have known of men 1 being put in Invercargill gaol for refusing to pay their debts who had plenty to pay with, and paid in a few hours after being put in gaol. I once questioned a gentleman whb had had twenty years experience as a gaoler in this colony if he had known many cases of men being imprisoned for. debt out of a vindictive spirit, and he said he had only known of one such case during twenty years’ experience. He said that creditors* : were* always ready to accept of any reasonable compromise sooner than put men in prison. That gentleman ; is now in Invercargill, and such data is quite as reliable as any that the Premier is likely to possess. This abolition bill is another bid for the votes of the loafer and spieler class at the coming election, and a blow at honest working men, who will find it more difficult to obtain credit in times of need. If this Bill becomes law Mr Seddon might just as well bring'in a bill to abolish impxisonraent fox- theft, for magistrates do not imprison fox’ debt unless they know the man is able to pay if he would. If Mi- Seddon knows of cases where the law has been abused, he should shift the magistrates who have abused their power. The law requires a creditor to prove to the magistrate that the debtor is in a position to pay before he can obtain an order fox- payment, or imprisonment as an alternative, and those who sue for debts know that magistrates invariably give the debtor the benefit of any doubt. This abject pandering for gutter votes by the present Ministry is an insult and an injury to every honest man in the colony, and is enough to make all such pray fox* their speedy ejectment from office.—Yours, etc., T. Buxxox.