RAILWAY LAND

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11251, 1 July 1922, Page 5

RAILWAY LAND

ASSESSMENT OF VALUE. KAIWARRA ESTATE INVOLVED. The compensation olaim of Alexander and John Cameron against the Railway Department, for £2587, for an area of over three acre© of land at Kaiwarra, taken over by the department for the purpose of meeting houses for the railway servants waa oontdnued yesterday. The ease occupied the attention of Hia Honour Mr Justice Reed, in, the Supreme Court ,the whole of Thursday and yesterday, considerable expert evidence being called as to local land values. Tho price paid by the Education Board, for a piece of land for the local school, being the central point in the argument of the contending counsel. On the bench, seated beside His Honour, were Mr A. H. Miles, the assessor for the claimant, and Mr W. Ferguson, assessor for the Railway Department. Mr T. C. A. Hislop appeared for Alexander and John Cameron, and Mr R. 8. K. Maoassoy, Crown Prosecutor, for the Railway Department. His Honour reserved decision till to-day. four cases of goods he was supposed to have concealed, those goods had 6ince been received by the Official Assignee. “TOOK THE FURNITURE.” When hte became a bankrupt, he continued, his wife procured a lorry and removed the furniture from his house one day while he was in town; and she also took away a lot of the stock which ho now had to deal with. Neither that stock nor the furniture had ever been recovered by_ him. It was not true that he had stolen any blankets from the assigned stock. He had, he said, bought a pair for 38s from a warehouse to sell to a friend of his at cost price, and only because his friend bad helped him a lot in his troubles. NOT A GERMAN. Questioned as to why he had changed his name, the bankrupt explained that he did so because he thought it advisable for business reasons, in case people might assume by his name (Littauer) that he was a German. Bankrupt would not say that buying stock at prices which afterwards came down had anything to do with his failure. AVhat he considered one of the main reasons contributing to his downfall was that he had been robbed by his wife, not only of money hut of goods. He had not said anything about that matter to the Official Assignee, because he felt disinclined to run down his own. He had no idea his wife had wanted so badly to get rid of him. “DONE SOMETHING WICKED.” Mr Treadwell submitted that tho present proceedings had been started because of suggestions made by the creditors that the bankrupt had been guTlty of something wioked; but not one of the creditors had made any official appearance. Instead, they had thrown the whole of the thing on to the shoulders of CTIe Official Assignee. Mr Evans denied this. The creditors, he Baid, had held a meeting, in the course of which they had carried a resolution that ITila Tnquqiry should be made; and, that being so, they were, he contended, officially represented by the Official Assignee’s counsel. His Honour decided to adjourn the examination “sine die,” to be b/oughfc on again at three days? notice.