BURDEN OF MORTGAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18389, 3 May 1923, Page 9

BURDEN OF MORTGAGES.

FARMER'S DIFFICULTIES.

UNABLE TO MEET INTEREST.

FORCED TO BECOME BANKRUPT.

The bankrupt affairs of an elderly farmer. Robert Muir King, of Otahuhu, were recounted to a meeting of his creditors yesterday. The official assignee, Mr. W. S. Fisher, presided. Bankrupt was represented by Mr. Wilson, and certain creditors by Messrs. Ward and Haddow.

The schedule showed that £77 was owinp to unsecured creditors and £4402 to secured creditors. Securities, consisting of land properties, were estimated to produce £6500. The total assets, including the estimated surplus from securities, were set down at £2237.

In his statement and in replies to the official assignee, bankrupt said his adjudication was due to his inability to pay interest on mortgages on demand. Until four years ago he had been employed as a clerk in the Civil Service. In 1913 one of his sons purchased a farm at Churchill, in which, bankrupt later obtained a halfinterest. Another son joined the brother at the same time, and both worked on the farm until 1918, when bankrupt joined them. In 1921 the farm was sold and another purchased at Waiau. This likewise Was sold and a third farm bought at Otahuhu, where bankrupt now resided. This property he had transferred to his wife on mortgage. The purchasers of both the Churchill and the Waiau properties walked off their lands in 1921, when the two properties reverted to bankrupt. At a later date he purchased a motor lorry, which did not pay, and he was forced to sell it at a loss. His sons had worked hard on the Churchill farm, one for nine years" and the other for five years, and neither had earned anything the whole of the time. It had been a great blow to him.

It was maintained by bankrupt's counsel that if the Churchill property were sold there would be a sufficient surplus, to pay off all the mortgages on the other properties, thereby clearing up the whole problem. It was" intimated on behalf of one of the mortgagees that steps were being taken in this direction. Upon those present agreeing that the sale would best be conducted on behalf of the official assignee, the meeting closed.