DEBT TO JILTED GIRL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 723, 24 July 1929, Page 1

DEBT TO JILTED GIRL

Young Man Evades Payment

FILED IN BANKRUPTCY

B\ filing in bankruptcy this morning, a young man, 'l hoinas Whitneal Churches, temporarily escaped having to pay £250 to a young woman he had courted, but failed to marry. Incidentally, he escaped being sent to prison by Mr. Justice Ostler in the Supreme Court this morning for his failure to pay the debt.

Pearl Mar. a young Onehunga iailoress, whom Churches, a farmer, of Tamaki, had wooed for five years, was awarded £250 damages and £36 9s costs for breach of promise In Auckland in August last year. Churches has not paid a penny, so the young woman today applied for a warrant for his committal to prison. The application -was based on the ground of reasonable belief that, apart from having reasonable maintenance for himself, Churches had had sufficient money to liquidate the debt. On behalf of the debtor, Mr. Conlan announced that Churches had just Med in bankruptcy that morning. "I don’t propose to accept that,” interpolated Mr. Singer, for the applicant. “Churches could have filed yesrerday if he wanted to. I want an order for committal.” Permission being granted by the court for Churches’ examination, Mr. Singer sharply questioned him. Debtor declared that he was working on his father's farm, receiving £2 weekly, and found. He had been employed there since he gave up business himself a year ago, before the breach of promise case. Mr. Singer: Then your wages have been increased?—Yes.

“Stop chewing!” he ordered the witness. “I might hear you better.” The court chuckled. "Were your wages reduced in August last year because the case was coining on?—No.

Your father then saw fit to pay you only £1 a week, saying you were not worth any more?—Yes. Churches added that he had improved his position since then. He admitted that he had owned a car, which had been damaged in an accident, fqr which he received £25. Mr. Singer: Where has that money gone?—l paid it to my solicitor. (Laughter.) Eighteen months ago, he said, he had visited Sydney for a month, and spent £l5O on the trip, having sold his cows to his father before he left. An objection by Mr. Conlan that the evidence was irrelevant, and that debtor should be examined as to whether or not he had filed in bankruptcy, was over-ruled.

His Honour commented that the Imprisonment for Debt Limitations indicated that if it could be proved that Churches, since the date of judgment, had had sufficient means to pay ihe whole or part of the sum, the court could order his imprisonment. He did not think the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act were superior. Churches admitted that he had not attempted to pay a penny of the debt,

though he was single and had no dependents. ANOTHER GIRL Mr. Singer: Have you got another girl?—Oh, yes. Is that the one you brought along with you today?—Yes. Have you spent nothing on her?— No. He had been keeping company with this young woman for 12 months, sometimes taking her to pictures and dances, but she invariably paid for herself. Mr. Singer: Why did you not pay this young woman the £250 which the court fixed for compensation for taking five, years of her life?—l didn’t have the money. He would not mind paying 10s a week, which he had previously offered, but had not paid, he said. Mr. Conlan intimated that the offer of 10s had been made on the sum of £IOO, without prejudice, in full settlement. Churches admitted having borrowed the £6 bankruptcy filing fee from his counsel. He had no -other debts, beyond this, he told his Honour. Mr. Conlan submitted there was a provision in the Bankruptcy Act, which ovenuled the Imprisonment for Debt Act. He contended that where a debtor filed his petition that no order could be made, the estate being then in the hands of the official assignee. SHARP COMMENT “I am going to make an order for the payment of £1 weekly, in default three months’ imprisonment,” remarked his Honour. “You could have paid perfectly well, but you are obviously trying to shelter under the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, and I am not going to allow it.” A last-minute appeal was made by Mr. Conlan to his Honour to review section 56 of the Bankruptcy Act, to the effect that where a debtor was I adjudicated a bankrupt, and the debt ! was provable in bankruptcy, no order for committal to prison could bo made. Admitting he had overlooked this provision, his Honour remarked he could not, therefore, make an order “It looks to me as though you have a remedy under the Bankruptcy Act,’his Honour advised Mr. Singer. “This man should not be allowed to get his discharge from bankruptcy until he has paid a substantial portion of the debt. He can perfectly well do it. You may also have some penal provisions in bankruptcy which you can enforce.”

To the witness: You may go; I don’t think much of you, commented his Honour.