District Court.—ln Bankruptcy

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 2628, 11 January 1894, Page 2

District Court.— ln Bankruptcy

Wednesday, January 10th. (Before His Honor Mr District Judge Kettle.) BANKRUPTCY OF NEWTON FAIRS. Mr Matthews moved for an order of discharge. Mr Welsh appeared for tbe D.O.A. The assignee said the estate had paid 7s 6d io the £. There were coats to be paid by bankrupt. ' Mr Matthews said bankrupt had only obtained temporary work for sod^q time, and was anxious to obtain employment. Mr Welsh held that bankrupt, before getting his discharge, should pay the costs of bringing him from Auckland when be went away with Kirk. The bankrupt and bis triands were told that when he applied for discharge he woald i be aeked to pay the costs, and be (Mr Welsh) believed there was a sort of I promise that they woald be paid. Mr Matthews said that the objeotion to the discharge woald hinder bankrupt from paying these costs, as be was at present only earning a precarious living. If the Court wished it he oould get bankrupt in at 10 next morning to give evidence. His Honor said he woald adjourn till 10 next morning. This was a case requiring special treatment, and he was not prepared to make an order without further enquiry. IN RE JOHN PROSSER. Mr Soott- Smith mcved that costs (£37 Is 4d) of counsel for bankrupt be paid cat of estate. Applicant gave evidence ss to appearing for Prosser in opposing his adjudication as a bankrupt. In answer to Mr Welsh, Mr Scott-Smith said he had received £5 from Ofsofeke (bankrupt's brother-in-law). His Honor said he could not allow more than the £10 allowed by the scale. A long discussion ensued, Mr ScottSmith submitting that His Honor could use his discretion in granting costs for services oatside the ordinary bankruptcy business. Eventually, His Honor said he had no power to allow more than £10. Order would be made for that amount, together with imbarsoments if any. ORDERS OF RELEASE. Orders of release were granted ia the following bankruptcies : — Wagstaff '. and Sons, W. G. Barrett, Patrick Fitzpatrick, George Cornwall, George Gower, William Goldfinch, James Northcott, G. F. Mason, Hugh McDonald. IK RE EMILY CLARK. Application for order of discharge. There was no appearance of bankrupt. Mr Welsh, for D.0.A., said some mis. understanding as to date must have been made by the Wellington solicitors for Mrs Clark. He thought; an adjournment should be made.

Mr Barton said he woald ask for an adjournment till next regular Bitting of Court, whioh was granted. ADJOURNED PUBLIC EXAMINATION OF JOHN MILNE.

Bankrupt stated — In the statement made to Mr Fantham I said I bad 314 bullocks paid for ; I have prepared a statement of stock held by me on the date I made statement to Mr Fantbam (28th November) ; in the latter statement I show the 314 bullocks, from whom obtained, and prices paid for them ; it is a true statement ; the 78 bullocks mentioned were remnants of stock I bad held, and were paid for ; I also bad 62 oattie running at Okaiawa, which were obtained from Farmers' Union on a p.n,, whioh was not dne on that day ; 45 were obtained trom Nolan, Tonks and Co., and were paid for at that time; I also had 46 tunning at Normanby ; 83 were from the Farmers' U ion on p.n.'s ; on that day I bad only I^3 head of oattle paid for, although I represented to Mr Fantham that I had 314 paid tor ; I also bad 767 sheep ;of these only 52 we're paid for ; I cannot explain the statement to Mr Fantham that tbe Etook were paid for ; I obtained list of assets and liabilities from account sales and memory ; I remember making statement to Mr Fantham 00 3rd November ; tbe 100 bullooks referred to I bought 'from Mr Lysaght; the whole of my liabilities in statement were owing on 2od September ; when I borrowed .£SOO from Hughes I owed all amounts mentioned in statement ; I only held five cattle when I borrowed tbe £ 500 from Hughes.

Mr Welsh asked that tbe examination be closed, which was granted. PUBLIC EXAMINATION OP EDWARD SACH.

Debtor said — Ceme to Hawera in 1889 ; I had about £60 or JE7O in cash when I came here ; I bought d seotion of bash land for £10, being a leasehold interest for 30 years ; it was all bueb, with no improvenisnts ; it was 315 acres, and tbe rent was Is an acre ; I felled some busb, about 40 acres, put up a cottage, - and did some fencing ; £40 or was owing to me in Wnnganui for wages, and this was subsequently paii to we ; I took, in •an adjoining section in 1890, from Mr Gleeson ; it was a lease from Mr Campion ; tbe rent commenced from tbe second year, when it was £30 ; in addition I had to pay tbe Government Is an acre ail through the term ; I bad tbe lease from Campion for seven years ; the latter's lease from Government was 30 years ; the first thing I did was to pat 700 wethers oa tbe land, on which 1 lost £20 ; I had some hoggets, on which I made £15 ; in April 1891 I soli section 11 for £160; I then had about .£IOO in hand, and I did not owe much ; I suppose I had about £50 in cash over liabilities ; I then purchased 860 hoggets from Budge and Good, on whioh I lost .£4B ; in December I gave Budge and Good a p.n for Lll2 10s ; from December till January I took on some of Mr Hill's oattle to graze, wbioh waa paid for io labor; in February 1892, I bouaht 428 ewes from Budge and Good for L 204 Is ; I did not meet Budge and Good's p.n. for Hl2, bat; got it renewed ; Mr Badge asked me if I bad any security when I got p.n. renewed ; I offered to handover my leases ; X believe I told Mr Badge tbe lease was worth LI 00 tbe bargain ; be said he did not tbink so ; be said he would sooner have a p.n., whioh I obtained, Mr C. P. Wallis endorsing it ; I told Wallis about tbe whole matter ; I went on dealing antil January, 1893 ; at that time I bad about IGO ewes and lambs; in May, 1890, I went to Mr Fanlbam, from whom I wanted to bay; I wanted him to sell me a lino of bullocks ; he appeared quite willing to take my bid ; before tbe sale lie askoi) rae about my position ; I told him I had 255 acres, partly cleared, with ratine value nt L 79 0; he did not ask me if it wna Ifiipohold or freehold ; I think ho wrotodown what I told him; subsequently, in Novtnubor, I fijjoed the statement I hail mftdo vorbally ', tho statement was not true ; at ibis time tbe lease was deposited in tho hank and uaouev drawn f\«iunafc it; I did not tell Mr Fantbam that, nor that I owed [Badge ani Good LlHf> ; Mr Fanthatn said he woald be plocißOil to do hueiiWß at any time for any amount j I bought 88 steers from Mr Fanthnm, and gavo n three months' bill for L 190; I took them to a paddock, where I left them for a few days ; I told IVJr FnnUnu" I wanted to put them on my own plaoo, wboro there was plenty of pniHfl; I n Herod my mind on tbe night of tho nn!o; I then decided to take them to Wanßftnai ; I drove them down to Wnngamii for the sale on the fojlowina Wednesday ; Nichol drove thoiw down, and they were to be solil by. Mr Barnes ; I wrote to the latter to' put a reserve of £5 5s on the cftttle.'ana that I would be down myself; I went to tli9 sale, wbioh was a poor one ; tbe cattle wore not sold ; they \rere afterwards sold for £4 178 ; Mr Faotbara's bill was 1 renewed on August 6th ; it woald fall due. ; on November 9th ; I asked Mr Hunter, then of the Empire Ho&el, ■to guarantee me at tbe bank;- I also asked Mr Kennedy, publican; I wrote to Mr , Fantbam asking him to hold over p.n. for* j a few days, bat he refused ; I went to Mr ; Barnes, at Wanganai, to get some more j

stock; I also made false statements tohim to get assistance. v ;'' His Honor — You may as well make a oleao breast of it at onoe. Examination continued — I bough c sbeep from him to tbe extent of £147 ; I. brought them home, where I kept them for two months ; I told Barnes I wanted tbe sbeep to stook ray land ; I sold some to Gorrigan on a bill ; on October 31 1 bought 341 cheep belonging to Corrigan through Nolan, Tonks and Oo. ; I was to give a bill to Nolan, Tonka and Co. ; it was endorsed by Corrigan ; tbe wool went in part payment of the sheep; I signed an agreement to bold the sheep against tbe bill ; I did not tell Corrigan what my position was ; I may have said I did not owe more tban £10. His Honor — I suppose you were not very partioular what you said at that time ? Bankrupt — 1 am afraid I was not over particular. Examination continued — The sheep were at Coxbead : s; I took home. 325,; Corrigan took away tho sheep, the day after I filed ; be took them with my knowledge and consent ; the delivery note was ante-dated 21sb November. His Honor — Tbe matter ia*"perfeotly plain. Examination continued— l made' the statement to tbe D.O.A. in order to shield Gorrigan. I got a borse from Power at Manawapou in October ; I sent it back on tbe day after I filed ; I told Power it would not suit me ; 'the priCß was to be £12. His Honor said he was not sure whether he should not exercise his power of committing under tbe Act. It was quite | clear bankrupt had committed one or two offences under the Act. It woald only put the estate to expense to state a case to 1 tbe Crown Prosecutor. He could not Bee how he could avoid commiting the bankrupt. Mr Welsh said he would apply that the bankrupt be oommitted7or trial v ; . ■ His Honor closed the examination. The bankrupt would be committed for trial at next sittings of District Court for the following offences: — (1&), obtaining oredit from Mr Fantham by means of false statements ; (2nd), for similar offence as regards Mr Barnes; (3rd), fraudulently delivering tbe sheep to Corrigan aft^r his bankruptcy; |(4tb), contracting debts without reasonable or probable ground of expectation of being able to pay same. Bail was allowed— himself in £50 and two bondsmen in £50 each.

Thubsday, January 11th. in be newton faibs. Bankrupt was oalled, and stated that he had offers of employment from several firms; he oould . not say whether bis not having his discharge prevented his setting work. To Mr Welsh— Could not make any offer to pay costs (£ll 12b 2d) of bankruptcy. His Honor eaid it was not reasonable to expect bankrupt to pay costs so soon after bis bankruptcy. He had his family to support. Mr Welsh said he only wished to find out whether an effort would be made to pay them. His Honor eaid tbe facts of'; the bankruptoy were well-known. Tbe court was most dissatisfied with bankrupt's conduct throughout the hankrapty. The discharge would be suspended for - three years. > '