BANKRUPT DOGGED BY ILL-FORTUNE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 236, 24 December 1927, Page 11

BANKRUPT DOGGED BY ILL-FORTUNE

CAR SERVICE FAILS GAOLED ON EVE OF XMAS When Henry Herbert Bennett, aged 39, an undischarged bankrupt, was making an earnest effort toward financial re-establish-ment, he was overtaken by misfortune which has now resulted in his imprisonment on the eve of Christmas. Bennett pleaded guilty at the Police Court yesterday to a charge of obtaining credit for £96 18s 6d while undischarged from bankruptcy. Mr. Gould, who appeared for the Official Assignee, said that accused went bankrupt in August, 1921, when his v deficit was £1,400. His dividend was threepence halfpenny in the pound. The credit he obtained was for motor accessories .upplied, and in addition to this he had incurred other debts for £4OO in a house-build-ing venture. “This class of offence Is becoming too common,” said Mr. Gould, “and it should be placed in the same class as false pretences.” Mr. Grant said that accused was a married man with eight children, the eldest being 11 years cf age. After his bankruptcy he began a service-car run, and had paid off over £7OO on

his car§, when fares were “cut,” and he could not pay his way. Soon afterwards one of the cars was wrecked, and a second one, uninsured, was burned. The Magistrate, Mr. W. R. McKean, in sentencing accused to one month's imprisonment, said the term would have been longer but for his family circumstances.