SUPREME COURT.—CIVIL SITTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 65, 24 March 1870, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.—CIVIL SITTINGS.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24,

(Before His Honor Sir G. A. Arney, Knight,

Chief Justice and a Special Jury.)

His Honor took his seat on the bench at 10 o'clock. The lb lowing unopposed cases were dispcsod. The cases of Halligan, Sweeney, and Henm a wei-e adjourned. Cornelius O'Leary and RO--bert Jennings received their discharge. BE SIMON __IPSTI2__. In this case tlie execution of the deed of arrangement wa. by conaent made an act of oankruptey. E : W. SHAW, PRINTER. The hearing of this ca.e was resumed. The bankrupt was called and examination resumed by Mr. McCormick, he said, . have been "already sworn, 1 have obtained the information respecting the sums due to Mr. , .uetmold. Mr. McCormick: Tell us how much was due to him of this 3000 and odd pounds tea years ago ? , Bankrupt: Ten years, it would be impossible to toil. Mr. McCormick : Well, as near as you can aay. Bankrupt: The account has been continually fluctuating, in 180 o it would not imve been much more perhaps than £200. I cannot exactly say when the uebt to Levy was commenced. The debt £014 was commenced auout 186;- in Otago. There have been settlements of account with Levy. McCormick : if so, surely you can tell us; when this debt w s ..ontr eted. Bankrupt: Yes ; the last settlement was -September, 1869. 1 had no-ledger account with Mr. Levy. The on y way it appears is through the cash book. Mr. McCormick : I see no settlement of account among these papers. Bankrupt: It is a statement of account. The statement shows the sums p id the previous year. Mr. McCormick : This paper gives us no information. liis Honor : What is Mr. Levy ? Bankrupt: He is a type deal r. Mr. McCormick : We cannot tell from these papers vihen the debt was contracted, i here has been no entire discharge of liability in the cases of Detinold and Levy. I have failed in Kngland, I never failed in the colonies. I never compromised a debt in the colonies; I never paid less than 20s. in the pound. But 1 got from those gentlemen whatever time I required. I was never in business in Geelong, I was in business iv Melbourne. I never suspended payment there or at any place in' Victoria. I never suspended payment at HokitiUa. I have frequently made arrangements with creditors for renewal of bills. I had hardly any creditors except these gentlemen. I have never stopped carrying on business at those places in consequence of being unable to meet my engagements. I have stopped now, but I never before stopped under similar circumstances. I have several times found myself unable to meet my bills. I have dishonored billß and paid a heavy interest for their renewal. That was alt the failing I ever made. I carried on business at Dunedin and Hokilika. At Dunedin we had to ask for time and got it.

Mr. MacCormick : Now is that not stopping

payment ? Insolvent: It all depends how you take it. We had plenty of resources in the way of property^ I did a splendid business at Hokitika. The affair at Dunedin was at the first rush to the goldfiekl, we had to go to great expense in plant, &c. It was in 1861. Mr. Levy was not in the business then. It was Mr. Franklin. Mr, Detmold came in as a creditor. They never stopped our credit. Amaz, Calendar, and Company were the largest creditors. We owed them £1,600. Mr. Detmold bought the debt and paid 12s. 6d. in the pound. He drew upon us for the full amount and was paid. We paid in bills of 3, 6, and 9 months. Harnett, and Company was the style of the firm. I did not carry on the business at the Thames as William Shaw, except in the imprint of the paper, which was done in compliance with the statute. Mr. Levy was here a short time since. Ho went away in the last steamer. He did not take away some of my property. He took some of his own away. He took ten boxes of typo from my store. It was taken from my store about two days after he arrived. This was after tbe deed of arrangement. I did not mention the fact to the trusiee. The trustee was present when I disputed Mr. Levy's account. Mr. Levy was three - weeks in Auckland —about three weeks, I cannot say whether he was here longer. He took away ten boxes ot type which belonged to himself and Detmold. They were stored in a shed in Weilesley-street. I did not think there was any occasion to communicate the fact to the trustee. The £514 9s 5d due to Levy is made up as follows : —My acceptances, £497. Here is a list of them. He claimed, when he came first, £650.

Mr. MacCormick : We want to know what these acceptances were for. Were they for goods ? --- .' ~ .

Insolvent: Yes ; there are four invoices for good, which will show it.

Mr. MacCormick : It is unfortunate that you have not these things in your ledger. Insolvent : There is one invoice for £149 6s , BJ. These were oebts lately contracted. I have not the invoice of the ten boxes of type \ I do not keep copies of letters, not even, business letters. I have no copying press. The bill of lading was consigned to Harnett and Company. I sent the invoice back as I got it. I took a contract for printing from the Provincial Government, and I ordered these goods to be not later here than tho 14th of January. I decided to : t row up the Government contract, and these. M things did not arrive till the end of J'muaryJjß so they were sent back. I had no use -onfl them. Ho claimed £650, and the type hehisJH sent back the account Wfis reduced to £514. - jM Mr. MacCormick : But all that is after .... "g deed of arrangement. ijl His Honor : This is the-explanation of tbM matter. There is, indeed, 'the fact thatHy ■ property was eonsigneol to him as Harnett ar.i U Co., and the property vested in him. '_.»$ | a separate consideration. '»■ Mr. Rees : Would it be so in law ? jj Ihs Honor: Yes. , - ) Mr. MacCormick:.lt isL*vf unfortunate .i. that these transactions do Wot appear m the I ledger, and that the invoices have been sent away. It is a very extraordinary way of- V keeping books. . j|

Insolvent: I was proprietor of the West Coast Times. I sold it to Mr. Klein for part cash and part bills. I sold it about the latter end of August or September.- I sold it for either £2,700 or £2,800. His name is not in the books —the transaction was closed. Klein's bills were at three and six months. One-half the price was cash. The bills were collected by the bank—the Union Bank. No—they were discounted. They were met. There is no debt due to me at present by Klein, nor by Klein to Detmold on my account. He has been sued and compelled to 'pay something. The facts were, I sued Klein for not taking delivery of certain machinery. I received £80 from him, and I instructed Mr. South, attorney, to remit the amount to Detmold. I have destroyed no documents relating to the transactions between myself and Detmold and Levy. I am surprised that many ot these documents have been preserved. .1 may have been careless. They were kept in a " clip in the editor's room, and subjeco to a good deal of knocking about. Mr. -Levy took back some goods of Mr. Detmold. He held a power of attorney from Mr. Detmold. Mr. Levy is the same person who was instructed by 'Detmold to look into my affairs. 1 never carried on business iv Wellesley.trcet.

[Left Sitting.]