NEED FOR INQUIRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 529, 5 December 1928, Page 14

NEED FOR INQUIRY

POSITION WITH JUDGMENT SUMMONSES MAGISTRATE’S STERN COMMENT (From Our Own Correspondent) WHANGAREI, Tuesday. The necessity of investigating whether a debtor is in a position to pay before a judgment summons is issued against him was demonstrated at the Whangarei Magistrate's Court to-day, when an Auckland firm applied six weeks after obtaining judgment for an order in respect of a debt of <£44 9s 6d. Describing the case as the worst that had come under his notice the magistrate, Mr. J. H. Luxford, said the defendant was evidently an honest, hard-working man. who, in spite of large family responsibilities, had done his utmost and given everything possible toward discharging his liability. The plaintiff firm had evidently not investigated the matter and did not realise the position or it would not have made this application for an order in It'hich the creditor’s agent swore that the debtor had had sufficient means to pay the debt after making provision for himself and family since the date of judgment. On the face of things the magistrate considered it was very improper that the application should have been made. To protect defendant from further worry an order for £3 a month was made.