BANKRUPTCY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9140, 23 August 1888, Page 3

BANKRUPTCY.

MEETING OF CREDITORS. John Robekts. —A meeting of the creditors of John Roberts, bankrupt, was held at the office of the Official Assignee yesterday morning, when there were present:— The debtor, and Messrs. A. H. Nathan, H. Hall (T. H. Hall and Co.), Brown (Brown, Barrett, and Co.), Tregaskis (Aulsebrook and Co.), Hunter (Moir and Co.), Warnock. Mr. Thorne, solicitor, appeared for the bankrupt The debtor's sworn statement was read, and Mr. Lawson said that by arrangement the wife of the debtor had purchased the stock-in-trade of the latter for £100. The estimated value of the debtor's furniture was £43. The bankrupt was sworn, and examined. He said that if he had not been pressed by one creditor he could probably have paid his debts except for the loss he had sustained, £130. He could not say that he was solvent when he was pressed, even if he had not lost the money. The £130 that was lost he brought from Ponsonby in a pocketbook. The book was in his outside breast pocket. He drove to town and gob out of the cart at the railway crossing. He then went to the goods shed, and subsequently drove to Martin's. Then he found that the pocket-book was lost, and he searched for it. He did not inform the police of his loss. He had kept no books except a small memorandum book. He started business on the second occasion about eleven months ago, and he had then £20 cash, a horse, cart, and harness that cost £30, sundries that cost £10, and about £40 worth of goods bought at Neal's sale. He got £100 from the Pines property and £S0 from a Surrey Hills property, and these sums were put in the business. Mr. Nathan remarked that the debtor must have lost £340 in the business in ten months. Debtor said that some of the money with which he had started had been borrowed. He did not state, when he started business for the second time, that the shop was his property. Mr. Brown would swear that the bankrupt had told him that the shop was his. Mr. Nathan would also swear that the debtor had then told him that he was trying to realise on his property. In answer to further questions, the debtor said his wife owned two shops on the Ponsonby Road, and had owned them for about seven years. He did not recollect how she got the property. Mr. Thorne explained that the property in question was purchased seven years ago for £40, and that he lent money to build on it. The property was in the debtor's name as trustee for his wife. There was no possibility of the creditors having any legal right to attack the property. After further examination, Mr. Nathan said that the bankrupt always led him to believe that he was a man of means. Had it not been so he (Mr. Nathan) would not have'given the debtor so much credit as he had done. Mr. Thorne suggested that in such cases a shilling be invested at the Registration Office to ascertain the real position of the properties. Mr. Nathan said that it would be necessary for merchants to do so in future. Mr. Brown thought the answers of the debtor had been unsatisfactory, and, on his motion, it was agreed, "That the meeting be adjourned till Tuesday, in order that Mrs. Roberts may be examined respecting the Ponsonby K-oad properties."