A BANKRUPT INDIAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19626, 3 May 1927, Page 7

A BANKRUPT INDIAN.

FAILURE AS A FARMER. ( LANDLADY SEIZES ONION CROP. At least one Pukekohe Hill farmer who has not prospered is an Indian named Kuvarji Bhajga, whoso affairs are in the hands of the official assignee, but whose creditors did not feel sufficient interest, in .thein to furnish a quorum for a meeting convened for yesterday. The debtor's schedule showed lia- ' bilities to unsecured creditors to the 1 amount of £504, and a secured debt to ' his landlady, £123, the estimated value of the security being £7O. As his only asset was £lO worth of furniture, the deficiency in the estate %vas £574. The bankrupt, who came to New Zea- j land as a farm labourer in 1921, took up I land at Pukekohe on lease from Mrs. E. J. Potter, to grow onions and potatoes, and latterly sub-let eight out of his 15A acres to fellow-Indians. According to his statement, lack of experience of New Zealand farming conditions landed, him in a loss of £250 in one year, and iir the following season he received a poor price for his product. His rent being in arrear, his landlady seized his crop qf onions after he had pulled thorn and left them to dry, and lie had therefore filed. He had* kept neither books nor bank account. From an examination of the debtor through an interpreter after he had been sworn on the Koran, it appeared that he had received considerable sums of money through auctioneers who had sold his produce, but in his distribution of it there was a suggestion of preference to his compatriot, creditors rather than others. As the amount r-o received was rather hazy, the assignee announced his intention of ascertaining from the firms in question the total amount, and then calling upon the debtor to account for its' disposition. ' • AUCKLAND COMPANIES. TWO NEW REGISTRATIONS. Two private companies were registered in Auckland yesterday. Details are as follows Slierson and Booth, Ltd., general electrical engineers, contractors and dealers, etc. Capital: £4Ol, in £1 shares. Subscribers : F. R. Booth' and J. R. Sherson, of Hamilton, 200 shares eachj T. B. Booth, one share. Specialty Importers, Ltd., manufacturers and importers of and dealers in wearing apparel, etc. Capital: £IOOO, in £1 shares. Subscribers: W. H. Watt and R. B. Gibb. 300 shares each; J. S. C. Colegrove and E. R. Yates, 200 shares each. : i: UNITED STATES PETROLEUM. PRODUCTION IN 1926. Production of crude petroleum in 1926 totalled 766,504,000 barrels, a gain of 1.3 per cent, over the previous year, and a new high record for the industry, according to the United States Bureau of Mines. Of this total the mid-Continent field produced 422,590,000 barrels, or 55.1 per cent., and California accounted for 224,117.000 barrels, or 29.2 per cent. Consumption of domestic and foreign petroleum, exclusive of California grades, amounted to 614,790,000 barrels, an Increase of 2.3 per cent, over 1925. New producing wells completed during tinyear numbered 18,965, as against 16,559 in 1925, ru increase of 14.5 per cent. Stocks showed a declining tendency until the last two months of the year, when a slight increase took place. At tho end of December total stocks east of California amounted to 278,007,000 barrels, compared with 293,852,000 barrels at the end of 1925. Production in December reached a new high monthly total, the output for the month amounting to 72,061,000 barrels, or »kn average per day of 2,325,000 barrels. The daily average showed a gain of three-tenths "of 1 per cent, over 'the previous record registered in November, and of 17 per cent, over December, 1925. AMERICAN WHEAT POOL. PROSPECTS FOR THE SEASON. Referring to the activities of the Airiercan wheat pool and the object of the congress held in Kansas City in March to lay down a plan of campaign for the auttunn yields of Canada and the United States, and the refusals of Argentina and India to stand in, the Glasgow Herald early in March said ;~r "The pool is not in a position to influence prices this side of May, but a very important new situation will arise on May 1, when the summer low freight* cornc automatically into operation. If the unsold residue of the Canadian wheat crop of 1926 and the newer remainder of Australia's crop of January, 1927, can be had for a good fixed price, the sales at barely cost price from January to April may, it is thought, be allowed for,. A third consideration is that of the American spring wheat surplus, not yet really tapped. "It is said Mark Lane is not disposed completely to discredit the rumour that the American millefs are prepared to take the whole of the spring wheat of the United States this season. Production of that kind was quite unusually small, and a duty of 8s per quarter keeps out the Canadian spring wheat, which would otherwise replace it. Theso tremendous protective tariffs give speculators ample margin within which to operate,. It is j thought in this country that very little | j Amer/can spring wheat will be obtained j Ibv British buyers this season; but in- j | stead of this making Canadian wheat j > dearer here, the fact that Canada has to j j sell to Britain and Europe, or keep her j ! wheat, is regarded as for cheap- j ' ness as soon as freights fall." CONSUMPTION OF TEA. AN INCREASE IN BRITAIN. j The consumption of tea in Great Britain i and Northern Ireifcmd in 1926 increased { hv million lb*;., and although Indian, j teas suffered a docßue of ipdlion ibs., 5 Java and Sumatra adv&fii'ed by fcil.i??! | }j.j. Exports from the United Kingdom s for the year showed a falling off of i seven million lbs., which was more than ( accounted for by the decrease ;n llossian I requirements, aUhosgh in trie month i December Russia * showed a warfeed toj crease, taking a total of '1,428.,5111 h. or S nearly as much as 18 the previous eleven j months. I Stocks in the United Kingdom at '.he I end of the year amounted to 207 t OG3,CXK)Ib. I or an increase of four million lbs. 09 the I.previous year. In justice to India, ;t | is stated that the general lack of quality I in last year's crop i* accounted for mostly [ bv weather conditions, rather than any ; attecr.pt at coarse plucking. The need • of the trade, owing to the change in tfce I public taste of the last few years, is for | teas of quality.