NEW BILL CRITICISED

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20905, 9 September 1939, Page 11

NEW BILL CRITICISED

HIRE PURCHASE AMENDMENT (Special to Times.) CHRISTCHURCH, Friday Criticism of the Hire Purchase Agreements Bill, which has been introduced In the House of Representatives, was expressed at a meeting of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. The clause dealing with the valuation of repossessed goods was quite unworkable, said Mr V. E. Hamilton. U seemed as if every case would have to go to Court. There were many factors to be considered. Some goods had to be reconditioned after repossession, and others were of such a special nature that buyers of them took a very long time to find. General comment on the Bill expressed in a special report before the chamber was as follows: “The Bill is an attack on the principle of the hire purchase agreement, which is that until the whole of the hire is paid the chattel belongs to the vendor. This principle should not be lightly thrown aside. “Unless care is exercised,” the report went on, “the hirer will suffer no penalty for non-fulfilment of the contract, and it must be remembered that in many cases of repossession the hirer has proved to be a man of straw.” It was stated that the only alteration so far made to the Bill dealt with the restraining of hirers from selling goods until they were completelv paid for.