“JUST A MUDDLER”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 540, 18 December 1928, Page 16

“JUST A MUDDLER”

BANKRUPT CHARGED BREACHES OF ACT ADMITTED Kenneth Laing, aged 33, who admitted to Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday afternoon, that he had committed breaches of tho Bankruptcy Act, was remanded until to-morrow for sentence. Laing, who is a married man with five children, pleaded guilty to charges of failing to keep proper books during the three years before his bankruptcy, and with contracting debts to the amount of £586 without reasonable prospect of payment. For the prosecution, Mr. V. X. Hubblo said that Laing’s liabilities were nearly £l,lOO and his assets scarcely £IOO. The main cause of his failure was the under-estimating on contracts. Since February last, when he started a contract at Turua, owing £3BO, he had incurred £586 in debts. Mr. Hunt remarked that Laing had started in a risky business not only without capital, but when he was in debt. Mr. Hubble said that the feature that called for sympathy was that Laing had worked hard to keep his family. For the accused, Mr. R. Grant said that it could be stated fairly that there had been no criminal intent. “Laing was just a muddler,” counsel said.