RAE'S BANKRUPTCY.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12, 15 August 1911, Page 6

RAE'S BANKRUPTCY.

DISCHARGE REFUSED. MUST PAY 10/ A WEEK. Iri the Supreme Court in Bankruptcy before Sir Joshua Williams, William Johnston Rae, of Waitapeka, labourer appeared on a motion of discharge, supported by Mr Irwin on Thursday. Mr Moore said he appeared to oppose the application. He did not know whether it would be necessary examine the bankrupt to-day The Assignee's report showed that he should pay 20/ in the i'i to those creditors who had taken the trouble to prove. He was described in the petition as a labourer, but as a fact he was a ribbiter, and during a great part of the year he made a substantial 1 wage, sometimes running up to £0 or £7 a week, whilst his average for the year round would be £3 or £4 a week. •He was a single man, and spent his money in a way he should not. The creditors expressed dissatisfaction. He (Mr Moore) represented two of th« largest creditors—Gillies £l2 for wages, and a blacksmith. The wages were a preferential charge only for four months preceding bankruptcy. The bankrupt appeared to have supported a woman and her child, which was not Jiis, and the money had gone to keep this woman instead of being used to pay his creditors. The Assignee bad given him every opportunity to nunc payments to t|,e creditors. la April last the Assingee wrote to him on the subject, and after some trouble got an arrangement by which he was to pay 20/ a week, but this was not kept up and the bankrupt was in court io-dav [because the Assignee had called (on hin'v |in terms of the Act to applv for his discharge. Statements made by Rae as to his property were untrue. It was a case where the bankrupt should be ordered to pay 20/ in the £ to the proved creditors, by instalments. Mr Irwin said that the facts supplied by the Assignee were not exactly complete. The debts, amounting to £2OO or £3OO. were contracted whilst Rae was cattle dealing. That explained his indebtedness. It was a fact that he was living with a wife who was separated from her husband. if the assertions about this relationship were correct he was under some obligation to maintain her. Apart from that, those debts were in cattle-dealing. When the cattle-deal-ing proved a loss he turned to rabbiting. He worked very hard at that, though the life did not suit him, as he suffered from asthma. It was true that he had been making more than labourer's wages, but it would lie a hardship if all he earned by extra exertion was to go to these creditors, for in that case it would be very little benelit to him to go bankrupt. The property talked of was sold for £5, and the surplus of the proceeds was still in the hands of Rae's solicitor. As for the woman, he was keeping her when well able to do so, and he kept her after the bankruptcy, but to show that the creditors thought it a case of misfortune, there was the fact that only four of them proved and that for only £2S. Rac now came before the court to have his obligations properly put. His Honor : He was arrested. What for ?

Mr Irwin : It was a matter quite apart from the bankruptcy, and he was found not guilty. Mr Moore : The other creditors did not prove because they thought thero was nothing j n the estate.

His Honor: The report of the Assignee is by no means favourable. The statements that Mr Irwin has made affect the report to some extent. The. Assigneejsays he is of opinion that thci bankrupt has come to bankruptcy by extravagant living and reckless 'eonduct, and that he is a single man and a splendid worker. I really do not see why the bankrupt should not pay these creditors in full by small amounts per week. Looking at the wages he expects to receive, perhaps CI a week is too large a sum, but 1 see no reason why he should not pay at am- rate half that sum per week. The order of discharge will take effect on his navingi by weekly instalments to the 10/ per week out of his earnings until the proved debts have been saf'slied. Of course, if be chooses to accelerate his discharge by larger payments, he is at liberty to do so^