THE TIME-PAYMENT SYSTEM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3055, 13 February 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TIME-PAYMENT SYSTEM.

SOME ASTOUNDING DEALINGS.

From time to time some starMing revelations have been made relative to the

dealings between some unscrupulous timepayment dealers and their clients, but nothing has yet been made publie that surpasses the case of an unfortunate ! woman named Marcellina Mow, or Marcellina Moss Robinson, who, as ono can very well understand after gaining a knowledge of the details, was recently obliged to seek the protection of the Insolvency Court, and in whoso estate a meeting of creditors was held recentlv. When an announcement appeared in the daily papers at the end of August last that Marcellina Moss had assigned her estate for the benofifc of her creditors, the general public were very little wiser, and probably oared very littlo about it any way. If, however, they could have looked behind the deed, and could have | seen the extraordinary circumstances that surrounded the case, a much wider interest would have been manifested in the transaction. The story begins as fatback as ,]uue, ISS2. At that time Marcellina Moss took a hou.-o in Fitzroy, admittedly for immoral purposes, ami obtained furniture for which she was charged L 1,545. The furnituro was "hired" on the time-payment system from Mr Rosenthal, who, at that time, did an extensive business among Moss's class. A scare arose among time-pay-ment people who had been furnishing such houses, because it was rumored that they conld be prosecuted for supplying goods for immoral purposes; and, in fact, some prosecutions were brought in South Melbourne. Rosenthal became insolvent, and the goods iu Moss's house were seized by the trustees and sold by a city firm, the proceeds of the furniture, which was taken by the hirer at the price of £1.515, amounting to £159 7s. Let the documents iu che hands of the trade Assignee speak for themselves, however. Tho tale they tell we give below.

As soon as the temporary scare was at an end, Mrs Martha Rosenthal took up the calling of her husband, mid let Moss have u house in Neill street, Carlton, at a rental of £'2 10s per week. No sooner did this woman see that the profits of vice flowed freely iufo the house than, apparently, she determined to share them. At all events tho rent was ; increased to £4 10s; and yet again another demand was ir.ado a little later that the rent paid should be £6 per week, which was paid thereafter. At the same tiaie large sums weekly were piid towards the account for the furniture which was put into the houre by Mrs Rosenthal on time payment. Every week £5 went in this way ; sometimes it was £10; mid it has even b2en as much as £25. When the trustee of Mrs Moss's estate adjusted the accounts, he found that the total amount duo for the futuro (£407) had been paid, as well as £25 over and above thut sura, and yet Mrs Rosenthal nudo a claim for £119 15s in respect to it. She also makes a claim for £413 10s due in respect of the £1,545 worth of goods obtained from Mr Rosenthal before he went insolvent, and which sum, if due at all or to anyone, is due to his trustee. Probably Mrs Mo.»s thought to got rid of Mrs Rosenthal by her assignment, but she soon found that there was no hope of this. Mrs Rosenthal was the landlady of tho unfortunate woman, so proceedings were commenced iu the Carlton Court (Rosenthal v. Moss) for recovery of tenement. Mrs Rosenthal's unimpeachable respectability could not suffer bad characters in her house, so they must go. Afterwards, however, she relented and made terms. In cosideration of Moss signing a new timepayu.ent agreement for £GOS sx, the amount of Mrs Rosenthal's claim on Moss's estate, she agreed to stop the proceedings for ejectment. The agreement was signed, and, atthosgh at law it is not worth tho paper it is written on, it served as a lever to extort the gold from the pocket of tho outcast Jezebel and put it into the pocket of Mrs Rosenthal. Across the corner of the agreement are written tho worris "Xo receipt prior to this date recosrnised."

But most startling l of all were Mis Muss's dealings with a money lender. In May, 18S7, Mrs Mots borrowed two sums of money (£IOO and£7o) from one Joseph Avinski, Iu a little more than f.-mr and ft half year.", according to tho documents in the possession of tho Assignee, Mrs Moss has paid this Avinski the sun of £1, 903 for interest alone on the £170 borrowed, and now Avinski claims on the estate for £515, which is made up of the money duo on the promissory uotes for £100 and £70, and for balance of ail account for £1,500. allowed to be due for goods sold aud deliverod. The rate of interest charged for the money was over 100 per cent, compound interest. Avinski, combined with his money-lend-ing business, did a little miscellaneous trading on the tiiue-payment system, and this branch of his business seems to have returned considerable profit, judging from some items extracted at random from his acount, regarding whiob it ought further to be statod that he supplied the goods only on condition that Mrs Moss became personally responsibK The fallowing item will give some idea of his charges :—Blankets, £7 ; poultry (pair of ducks), £2; window curtain. £12 10s; bed, curtaius, £22 10s; kapok bed, ££ ; bolster and pillows, £4 10s; 3 pairs of blankets, £9; pair of window curtains, £12 10s; parasol, £3 10; umbrella, £4 14s; pair of gilt candlesticks, £12 10a ; pair of blankets, £4 10s. There is an item of £57 for a lady's gold watch and albert, which an expert in jewellery states were never worth more than £7, and the same authority values the gilt candlesticks at 30s, In like manner the trustee of the estate states that all the articles supplied, though oharged for at such astonnding rates, are of a common description. A recurring item in the account is £57 10s for seven lace curtains, which have been valued at £2 2s each. Repairs to furniture, £20, £15, and £10 respectively, are ever recurring entries, and are only second in number to the entries of dress pieces at £10 10s, £15 15s, and as high as £20. These are simply a few of the features shown on the accounts now in official hands, —' Age.'