IN BANKRUPTCY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 257, 27 September 1933, Page 5

IN BANKRUPTCY

ECHO OF COURT CASE. A meeting of creditors in tlie bankrupt estate of Stanley Leonard Hickford, driver, of Awahuri, was lield in tire office of the D.O.A. (Mr C. E. JDempsy) yesterday, .when there were present:—Bankrupt and his solicitor (Mr A. W. . Yortt), Mr G. Tremaine (representing Mr It. L. Stuart), Messrs M. It. Bennett, E. E. Pink and Weston J. Smith. Mr Yortt also represented the firm of Messrs Oram, Gibbard and Yortt, creditors, and also the Manawatu Loan and Discount Coy., the holders of the security figuring in the financial statement. In his personal statement, bankrupt said: —“I have been employed by the Manawatu County Council as a driver for the past seven or eight years, at a wage of £3 15s per week. In May last Mr R. L. Stuart obtained a judgment in the Supreme Court for damages amounting to £684 13s 3d. He has been pressing me for payment and recently issued a bankruptcy notice against me and followed it up with a creditor’s petition, upon which I was adjudged a bankruj»t. I have no assets apart from my wages. I found it quite impossible to satisfy the judgment. Practically the whole of my debts were incurred as the result of the Court proceedings; but I had no desire to file, or intention of filing, a bankruptcy petition as I could have eventually. paid my ordinary debts though, naturally, the £684 due to Mr Stuart was beyond my means. None of my. other creditors pressed me.” Tile statement of assets and liabilities disclosed that bankrupt’s sole asset was £8 15s, being the surplus on a security (car and motor cycle), on which he had raised a loan. The amounts due to unsecured creditors amounted to £7lB 3s 7d thereby leaving a deficiency in the estate of £709 8s 7d. The creditors are: —Mr R. L. Stuart (Awahuri), £684 13s 3d; Messrs Oram, Gibbard and Yortt (Palmerston North), £2O 4s 8d ; Mr M. R. Bennett (Awahuri), £4 10s; Messrs Pink and Manning (Palmerston North), £4 10s 8d; Mr Weston J. Smith (Palmerston North), £4 ss. BANKRUPT EXAMINED. Examined by the D.0.A., bankrupt explained that he had raised a loan over an old car and a motor cycle in May last to meet the costs of liis Court action. He had no property and, although still in his billet, he could not make any offer to his creditors. Mr Tremaine: Have you a banking account ? Bankrupt: I bare a post office account. There is about 25s in it. I have not paid anything into it for the past four or five years. I have had to assist my widowed mother for the farm has not been paying its way. Mr Tremaine: You have a share in a tractor, have you not ? Bankrupt: No. I did have a tractor which I originally bought for £3, but it has been sold for a considerable time. You sold it to your mother did you not? —Yes, I sold it for £lO after having put a lot of time into it overhauling the machine. Was it sold before the Court proceedings were served upon you ?•—Yes, I sold it in March, 1932, and the proceedings were heard at the May session this year. Have you any other assets or interest in the. farm? —No. Have you been paying your mothef board ? —Yes. You have made no overtures in respect to the amount owing to btuart? —No, it is impossible. The loan was to meet the costs of the Court action ? —Partly, I bought some tyres and a suit for myself, the latter because I had not bought one since 1927.

Mr Tremaine intimated that it had been Mr Stuart’s intention to lie present, but he had had to return to hospital. He moved that the meeting adjourn till a later date so as to permit’ Mr Stuart, who was better acquainted with bankrupt’s financial position, to attend. However, a seconder to tire motion was not forthcoming, and the meeting was adjourned sine die.