BEARING ON A POSTHUMOUS BANKRUPTCY.

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 129, 31 May 1917, Page 2

BEARING ON A POSTHUMOUS BANKRUPTCY.

(BS mEORAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

AUCKLAND, 30th May.

An important civil action, bearing on the posthumous bankruptcy of the late William Colernau, solicitor, was 'comniencd at the Supreme Court to-day, wlien the Hon. Arthur Myers sued the Bank of New South Wales to recover the sum of £2000. The statement of claim set out' that in May, 1897, the plaintiff, the late, William Coleman, and the late Alfred Henry Morisby were made executors and trustees under the will of John Pascoe, of Auckland, mining engineer, who died in England in May, 1909, .Morisby having predeceased him in 1902. In November, 1909, plaintiff proved the> will in England, reserving power to Coleman, as the other surviving executor. Portion of the estate in England consisted of the sum of/ £3000, invested in Government deben-: hues:deposited by Coleman with the defendant bank in June, 1908. In June, 1913, Coleman wrote a letter to the bank notifying that the debentures, together vvifcb. th« other securities, belonged to Myers and himself, as executors for Pa-suoe, an:V asking that the interestfrom them should be paid into his " Account No 3." 'The defendant bank, it !S allngsd, negligently and improperly dealt with the debentures by delivering them in February, 1915, to the Bank of New Zealand, receiving £3000 in cash, together with £60 accrued interest, both of which, sums it placed to the credit I .of Coleman. Of the. £3000, £1000 was converted by. Coleman to his own use, and the balance deposited by him with the Auckland Gas Company, at call. In the following July the Gas Company repaid £1000,- which Coleman converted also to his own use. The balance of £1000 was retained by the company till after the death of Coleman in September, 1915, and theri handed over to the Official Assignee, who was now holding it to the credit of Pascoe's estate.

The statement of defendant admitted trusteeship, but denied any improper conduct or negligence in dealing with the securities in the manner alleged. It further alleged that if the: capital of the estate had been reduced by £2000, as alleged, the .said capital; had been lost solely.through the improper conduct and negligence of the plaintiff, in (a) permitting Coleman to have uncontrolled disposal of the said moneys, (b) not making reasonable- enquiry as to the investments representing . the money in the estate, (c) not ascertaining the date upon which the "debentures fell due and seeing tr> the proper investment of the proceeds.

In the course of argument it was stated that the beneficiaries had issued a writ against Myers, claiming a refund of £2000, and that he had satisfied the claim.