BANKRUPT FARMER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 260, 2 November 1932, Page 8

BANKRUPT FARMER.

TOTAL DEBTS OF £600. MISFORTUNE WITH CATTIB. ENTIRELY .WITHOUT ASSETS. f£; The affairs of a bankrupt, farmer-f Thomas Edward Ross, of Auckland,'we're'., explained to liis creditors and the Official'. Assignee, Mr. A. W. Wa'tters, this moriir '•' ing. It was disclosed that bankrupt's '< total dchts.amounted t0:£604 15/16,'0f ■ which £150 was the amount due to one ■■ McKenzie as the result of a judgment ! He had no assets other than £51' in book~ : debts. After the bankrupt's statement '■■1 had been read the. meeting, adjourned" : sine die. ' ' ' \

In his statement bankrupt said that-; the original cause of ' his•• bankruptcy?"' was the purchase by him of a property*''and milk run at Te »anapa. He paid' £400 in 1930 for the equity in a hojiSe*'. at Te Papapa, which -was subject to a : mortgage of £600' to ] the Stated Advances ,and also eight cows and'a;' milk run. Of the £400, the sumiofl'^ £250 was advanced!to him by his wife.-' from.her .separate estate, she bein» in Ireland at the time and forwarding the money by draft. She raised her money by giving a mortgage on a property of hers for' £250. "I discovered six month*lf later," the statement proceeded, "that" ■ the niilk run :was nokasrepre'sentedy'so-" I sold to:<Slymr for : £106,: of -which amount he paid me £75 in cash and the '. balance 1 of £31 -was accounted -by '■ a promissory note, : which was not- hon'»'"' oured,"; said 'bankrupt. He addodrthat he sold the house to Thompson forV£loo above the mortgage.'

At the beginning of .this year he took 103 cattle ■ from McEenzie to "graze:"'These lie held at Glendowie • for five ; or six weeks, until there was no-more feed. He sent a message to McEenzie and wired him to come and get his cattle, but he was not at home when the wire arrived. McEenzie brought an action for negligence and obtained judgment for £150, and himself was {adjudged! a bankrupt. Ross attributed his bankruptcy to (a) his loss on the milk run; (b) to abortion in his herd,,, of heifers; (c) the universal>fall"'in. values. • " . -.. '• .

In r.eply to a question by Mr.-Watters,' bankrupt; said that; he, had absolutely no. assets ,and that at present he- and ." his wife were living on the .Glendowie estate with, their.six children. His v wjfe was paying the rent for the houseA-He. was' clearing" the blackberry...'off the estate in return for which he was allowed"; the grazing rights "for the land. Mr./ Watters .disclosed '■that .bankrupt" '.'owed':! his wife £338, but these were not included in his other debts. ~,,