Hire—Purchase System

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 500, 1 November 1928, Page 1

Hire —Purchase System

Embarrassing Work of Police

Tracing Pawned Goods

A SPIRITED condemnation of the hire-purchase trad in p system was made in the Police Court _ this mominy by Chief-Detective Hammond.

Raymond Cecil Harding, a musician, aged 25, pleaded guilty to stealing a bicycle valued at £lO 19s 6d from a firm of city merchants. “Harding bought the machine, paying 4s down,” said Mr. Hammond. “He sold it to a dealer for £ 1 and that was the last that was heard of it. Harding explained that his wife was in bad health and that he had been forced to sell the machine to buj r medicine for her. Mr. F. Iv. Hunt, S.M.: That may or may not be true. You have been in trouble before, so I shall remand you until to-morrow so that inquiries can be made. “It takes an army of police to look after goods bought on the hire-pur-chase system,” complained Chief-

Detective Hammond. “People buy goods on a small deposit and, after holding them for a while, consider them their own property. Probably they are shifting from the town. They sell the goods and the police are called to trace the lost articles by the ven-

dors. The system is undermining the credit of the country and legitimate trade is suffering. Some of these firms* will send a bicycle to Stewart Island for 3s 9d and the result is endless trouble.”

To illustrate his point, the detectiv * referred to an instance of which lie had personal knowledge. A young family arriving from England furnished a home under the hire-purchase system. They were overtaken by ill - fortune and the husband, finding work on a boat, left for England. leaving his wife and child stranded in New Zealand with the furniture. The woman had sold the furniture to a friend for £4O and left far home. Hearing of this, the original vendors of the furniture seized it from the unfortunate purchaser.

Mr. Hunt: The furniture should be sold under a bond or guarantee so that it should not be re-sold until paid for. Mr. Hammond: Even that would not protect the private individual who buvs unsuspecting. You cannot label the furniture.