BANKRUPTCY COURT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1165, 29 June 1894, Page 32

BANKRUPTCY COURT.

(Before Mr Justice Richmond.) APPLICATIONS FOR DISCHARGE. The hearing of the application of Campbell Colquhoun, builder, for his discharge wa3 adjourned until next sitting of the Court, as the Official Assignee had not been ablo to make up his report. Mr Travers appeared for the bankrupt. Mr Morison applied for the discharge of George G. Tuck, labourer. The bankrupt did not appear, Mr Morison explaining that his absence was on account of the expense which would be incurred in travelling from Piripiri, near Danevirke, where ho was now employed, to Wellington. Tuck, he stated, was earning 7s per diem, but was not paid for wet days, and he had a wife and two children to support. It was explained that none of tho creditors had proved. This, however, the Assignee stajbed, was not unusual where there were no assets. He thought the debtor should be called upon to pay something in the £ before he received his discharge. Mr Morison said it would be cruel to make an order under the circumstances, as the man was without property, and quite unable to pay anything. His Honor expressed surprise at finding a working man with debts amounting to".£100 and no assets coming to the Court and asking to be whitewashed. He (Mr Justice Richmond) did not like to drag a man from a distance, but in a case like the present thero should be some explanation as to how the debts had been ia-

curred. Mr Morison thought that in tho face of tho fact that no creditors had proved, the Court should not mako an order. The Assignee pressed for a payment of about 5s in the £l, and His Honor decided that the debtor should receive his discharge on condition that he confessed judgment for «£2O. It was arranged that creditors should bo allowed one month in which to prove their claims. John M. Walter, tobacconist, applied for his discharge, Mr Jardino appearing in support of the application. The bankrupt, on examination, stated that the sum of «£IIG, due to Mrs Bother, was a debt owing to his mother-in-law, who, however, had not proved for the amount. A letter from Mr J. D. Tustin, decorator, of Wanganui, was rend, stating that the debtor had represented that ho was in a good position, and had GO,OOO cigars in stock, and on that representation he (Mr Tustin) was induced to do certain work amounting to <£lo. The bankrupt stated that he told Mr Tustin that he had 16,000 cigars—not 00,000. The Assignee said ho did not think the estate would pay more than 3s in tho «£. His Honor said that the debtor possessed a good address and should do a good trade. Mr Tustin had evidently been under a misapprehension with reference to the number of cigars in stock. Tho case did not appear to be one in which the debtor should be punished, and an immediate discharge would be granted. In the case of James Atkinson, storeman, His Honor made an order that the debtor should receive his discharge on consenting to judgment for .£2O, the creditors to prove their claims within a month. With regard to tho case of J. H. Potter, clerk, who had beon granted a discharge on condition that ho paid 10s in the pound, His Honor made the order absolute, tho creditoi-3 having accepted 8s 5d in the X^ound. At the sitting of the Bankruptcy Court on Monday Mr Travers asked His Honor Mr Justice Richmond when the case in which Mr T. K. Macdonald had been called upon to show cause why certain furniture should not be given up for the benefit of tho creditors, which had been partly heard was to come up again. There was a suggestion that a large proportion of tho furniture had been purchased by Mrs Macdonald out of her own estate, and ho thought she should be called for tho purpose of giving evidence on that point. His Honor thought it was almost necessary that no gifts between husband and wife should bo considered valid unless supported by some documentary evidence. If a man made a gift to his wife, he should register it. He intended his remarks to have a gonoral application, and not to apply to this particular case. His Honor decided to resume the hearing of tho case on Friday next. Subsequently it was ascertained that owing to a prior engagement, and to the absence of Mrs Macdonald in Sydney, the case could not be further heard this week.