DISTRICT COURT.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1904, 2 September 1887, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT.

, — « — r (Before His Honor Judge Broad). i Monday, August 29t,h, 18§7; V. RAINY -CrREK EXTENDED Quartz -Mining CJoiipany, Ltmitku. 'wfca was an action to tesfe the validity^f a forfeiture of shares by tlte company. . y Mr North [.appeared Tor the plaintiff and Mr Lynch witlf Mr Jones for the defendants. * Mr North in opening- the case said the action was re»Hy one for the restitution of rightf; Plaintiff was a shareholder in tlie uompany, and a call of seven pence pel share was struck. Under the rules < t \>he company the maximum «moi»MC^ which could We called upaton© fmi« was fixed at sixpence. Notwithstanding this, plaintiffs fihiiies bad -< .been forfeited and sold for the nou-piym'ent of thn.call. He contend, d tfiaf the ainoinit of the call »>eing in ejee*, of the limit provi.led l»y the rule*,. of th^ company, tho call was ultra -o£rc»,*and iftonsequf.nt.ly the sljares jyeije not forfeitahle thertuud«r. He oafled the following evidence : — William Hindmarah : I am 7 le««al manager <»f the Rainy Creek E^iteutfed Onmn»»v, Limited ; I was manager^ at i*c? :<,t'jnation j til* first me*etiflfe of ahueholdeis was held on the 28th i January, 1882 ; this was prior to I incorporation ; at that meeting five ! directors were appointed, namely M-ssrsKilgour, Shaw, Aikeu, Graham, and Connolly; sixteen shareholders wrre present at Mint meeting and represented 1 6,000 *b* res out of 24,000 in the company ; it wafrdecided to register the compauy ; ort the 9th March I waa instructed to convene an extraordinary meeting ; ajll five directors were then present ; the meeting was called by advertisement in the regnlaribrjn ; the meeting was held on the 10th April, 1882, at which 19 shareholders representing 9750 shares were present?' there are 24,000 shares in the company ; rules were read and passed ; on the 22nd February 4850 shares stood in the name of Hugh Graham as trustee for the company ; after the 22nd Febrnary there was-' no meeting at which the quorum of directors was fixed; on June 29th Aiken,. Graham, Kilgour, and -^- were appointed directors ; between the 10th April and 29th Junetßß2>. there was •ud meeting of shareholders; there is no minute fixing the number of directors» quorum, and term of Office ; the present dii^ctbrs aie Messrs Aiken, Graham, Beeche, MuQuillian and ; On tbe 17th • December 1886 Messrs Aiken, Graham, Beeche, , and , were elected directors; the last meeting was called by order of the directors ; there was no requisition from the shareholder's to -mII v

meeting to elect directors, there has Wn no requisition since the company was formed ; produce the rules read and adopted at the meeting before referred to. • By Mv Lynch: I omitted to register the rules in the Supreme Court ; at the time the meeting was held the 4250 shares were not held in trust by Graham ; Graham was not represented at the meeting. This closed the case. Mr North submitted that upon the evidence the directors when they 9truck the cull were not qualified ; the company having no rules no directors could be appointed and the only directors, if any, who could act were those, appointed before the incorporation of the company, or if fresh directors could be appointed it must be by a meeting duly called npon a requisition from the shareholdors ; the company was hound by the actions of the first directors. Mr Lynch replied that there betng no rules to control the company, there was no limit to the amount of any call. His Honor said the point was not altogether free from doubt, but it seemed to him there was nothing to prevent a company doing %£ter regis» Lration what it did befo'Wiijgis'tratiori. He would reserve his decision, as also tin* question of costs. IN. THE MATTKR OP P. HIGGINS, BA.KKR, A B\NKKUPT. The debtor presented himself for examination, and was interrogated by Mr Jones, who appealed for J. Mitfc'hHl, a creditor in the estate. . Patrick Higgins :lam a baker and started iv business in 1879 ; had £50 capital at the start; incurred most of my liabilities in 1881 ; my property was then mortgaged to J. I. Aiken ;my liabilities are between £600 and £700; I owe J. Mitchell over £200 ; it was for flour supplied ; some of the flour was bad and could not use it ; the money I got from Mitchell's flour wont to pay for other flour and current expenses ; my books were sold with my book-debts ; at first rented the bakery from Dick for two yenis, and then bought it and mortgaged it to Aiken ; my expenses were £4 or £5 per week ; my house expenses would bft £0 or £7 per week ; baked about 300 limws per week; th« price of bread was one shilling per loaf; have paid us high as 23/- per cwt for flour ; a 2001 b bag would bake on an average about 60 41b loaves; was carrying on at a loss most of the time ; have been doing about four bugs per week during the last three years; could not have been losing as much as £7 or £8 ppr week ; it- is three or four years sinoe I discovered that my business was going j to the bad ; lmv« not been carrying on . at a loss during the past three years ; dif« collect some money just before I j filed ; I. was always very diligent in 1 collecting ray accounts r, collected some money just befo^f I filed and paid it , to Mr Aiken for flour to carry oh with ; and the rest w<;ut in general expenses ; paid nothing .off Ai ken's. mor ; tga^j w *pTrfTlu^>ii!igo?r-Aikett'3 6TTcl«t»t since" 1882 ; speculated a bit in scrip, ipnyiDg culls &c ; never mado a penny by speculating. In answer to the Baivch the l)epnty Assignee stated that the bankrupt kept [ no record of his takings. I This closed the examination and the case was adjourned till n<sxt sitting. This coucluded the business of the j Court, which was then adjourned sine I die.