FARMER'S BANKRUPTCY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19940, 29 May 1930, Page 3

FARMER'S BANKRUPTCY.

TROUBLE OVER AGREEMENT. A meeting of creditors of Thomas Warnock, McClelland, 36 St. Martin's road, Christchurch, was held before the Official Assignee (Mr J. H. Bobertson) yesterday morning. McClelland was adjudged bankrupt on May 16th, on the application of Messrs Dalgety and Co., Ltd., the'amount of his liabilities being £ll2l 9s, and. his assets £450, leaving a deficiency of £671 9s. In the course of a •written statement bankrupt said that he had bought a farm from A. C. Wells, of Hororata, on August 28th, 1928. The farm was of 824 acres, and bad stock and plant. He had put up an equity of £2BOO, which was subject to a charge of £6OO. Some time after tho contract for the purchase of tho farm had been signed by all parties Wells went to Pyne, Gould, Guinness and borrowed £350 on the stock. Upon hearing of this tho bankrupt refused to go on with the deal. Finally, at a meeting of those concerned Wells undertook to pay this amount off. The farm was then transferred to the bankrupt, this being done through the Lands Department. About November 21st, Pyne, Gould, Guinness, under their socurity from Wells, held a clearing sale of all the stock and plant, all of which should have been the property of the bankrupt. As a result of the sale he was left with the farm but had no stock or plant or money to carry on with. Later Wells made an offer of £IOO but this the bankrupt refused. Later, however, the bankrupt's solicitor accepted the offer despite the fact that such offer was accepted without _ the bankrupt's consent and against his instructions. The bankrupt had finished up by losing £BOO. He attributed his downfall to Wells not carrying out his contract, which had left bankrupt without stock, and also to Dalgety and Co. squashing a deal that was being made with a Mr Woods, and which, had it gone through would have enabled him to clear off his liabilities and pay his creditors as well as having a small farm left for himself. During examination, the bankrupt admitted giving a chattel mortgage over a tractor although at the time he had not paid for it. He did not know then that he was doing wrong but he knew now that he should not have done so. He was prepared to swear that his bankruptcy was not brought about by gambling. He had made a living by getting odd jobs about the district. It was contended by one of the creditors answering bankrupt's • statement that when Wells sold the farm the stock did not go with it. The real position was that the bankrupt had the right to purchase the stock but could not finance the deal and therefore Wells sold the stock as he was entitled to do. Dalgety and Co. also stated they had not interfered with the sale of the farm as alleged by the bankrupt. Commenting on this, the Official Assignee said Dalgety's had such a world-wide' reputation that he was sure they would not do such a thing. On the motion of the creditors, the whole matter was left in the hands of the Official Assignee to make further investigations and to deal with, oa the understanding that should there be any need for it he would call the creditors together again.