VENTURES IN LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19974, 16 June 1928, Page 14

VENTURES IN LAND.

BANKRUPTCY OF DEALER. FARMS IN THE WAIKATO. r CREDITORS EXPRESS SYMPATHY. A bankrupt's extensive deals in farm and city properties were revealed at a meeting of creditors of Bertram Wallace Miller Bailey, dealer, of Auckland, yesterday. The official assignee, Mr. G. N. Morris, presided. Bankrupt's financial statement showed £9345 owing to secured creditors, with security estimated at £14,310, while there was £llO6 owing to unsecured creditors, leaving an estimated surplus of £3859. The security was 1076 acres of land in several lots near Matamata, and two buildings at Thames. In 1920, according to bankrupt's personal statement, lie entered into a land agency business in the Waikato. It prospered, and with a partner he bought 1076 acres of land near Matamala, in two blocks, for £2723 and £2061. The partners successfully traded in the beef and cattle market until the slump ended the venture in disaster. Bankrupt described how one block then reverted to the mortgagee, only to be bought back by Bailey himself for £I2OO, but later it involved him in financial difficulties, causing him to give up, at great loss, an apartment house venture which he had been successfully conducting in Auckland. Ho detailed involved land and other deals over which he lost heavily. Bankrupt said his wife had been under constant medical treatment for the past five years, while he had been in ill-health frequently during the past two years. Questioned by the official assignee, bankrupt said he had kept no books covering his land deals, but could give a "rough estimate" of his transactions. The Official Assignee: Why did you not keep books when you were dealing in thousands of pounds ? Bankrupt: I did not fail to keep them for any dishonest reason. Bankrupt admitted that although he estimated the Matamata farms would realise about £l2 an acre, he had been unsuccessfully trying to sell them for some years at £7 to £8 an acre. "I cannot make very much out of this yet," said the official assignee. "I have no books." In the absence of books he could not judge whether bankrupt's plight was due to sheer hard luck or not. It was clear, however, that for some three years he had been in a position where he could not meet his liabilities. Mr. Bryce Hart, a creditor, sympathetically referred to bankrupt's years of family trouble, saying Bailey had been fair and had borne his worry with great fortitude. Mr. R. Mason supported Mr. Hart, saying bankrupt had been dogged by illluck. He moved a vote of sympathy with bankrupt and a motion that the official assignee should facilitate his discharge. Other creditors were sympathetic and the motion was carried, Mr. J. Petrie, representing M. J. Bennett, recording his vote against it on general principles. "My firm feels there is too much of this sort of thing," he said. A committee of creditors was set up to co-operate with bankrupt in the realisation of his assets.