BANKRUPTCY MATTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17348, 20 December 1919, Page 10

BANKRUPTCY MATTERS.

o - DEBTORS DISCHARGED. SUSPENSION IN SOME CASES. A sitting of the Bankruptcy Court was held yesterday before Mr. Justice Hosking. Discharges were granted to Thomas Brownlee, builder, oif Mount Eden (Mr. Campbell), and M. N. D. Finkelstein, storekeeper, formerly of Paeroa (Mr. Ziman), in both cases subject to a suspension of 12 months; Finkelstein had been adjudged bankrupt in conjunction with his partner, George C. H. Dunsford, who was not seeking discharge, and both had been prosecuted for incurriag liabilities without prospect of being able to meet them, and ordered to come up for sentence when called upon. Brownlee was stated to have indulged in rash and hazardous speculations. Thomas Avery, formerly of Waiuku, quarry-owner (Mr. Meredith), who was admitted to have misled his creditors as to the ownership of a certain plant, was granted a discharge, with six months' suspension. Leslie V. Nicholls, of Otahuhu, fruitgrower (Mr. Lennard), was granted a discharge, to take effect in three months. It was stated that he had, on returning from active service, borrowed money from the Government under the discharged soldiers' settlement scheme and purchased with it a property without disclosing the fact that he was an undischarged bankrupt. His Honor remarked that the property was really vested in the assignee, and giving the debtor his discharge would not help him in that respect. With regard to an application of Fred M. King, formerly of Karekare, boardinghouse-keeper, His Honor remarked upon the disparity between the proved claims, £3305, and the assets, £504. The official assignee, Mr. W. S. Fisher, said the debtor had agreed to pay a most extravagant price for the property at Karekare on which his boardinghouse stood, but the owner had got the property back. His Honor said the owner had proved for £1600 as well, and must have charged a shocking price for the property, to which the assignee assented. The Court granted a discharge. Unconditional discharges were granted in the following cases :Herbert McLeod, of Auckland, builder; Ivan Kunak, of Auckland, restaurant proprietor (Mr. Nutsford); William W. Haspham, of Wairoa, near Tauranga, farmer (Mr. N. Hanna) ; Hugh Campbell, of East Tamaki,.dairy factory manager (Mr. McLiver); Thomas Sutton, of New Plymouth, builder (Mr. Grey).