MEETING OF CREDITORS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14001, 6 September 1907, Page 5

MEETING OF CREDITORS

SEQUEL TO A LIBEL ACTION. '

(Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, September 5. • A meeting pf creditors in the estate of St. Georgo Ablett Dowsing, clerk, of Wellington, was held to-day. The statement filed by bankrupt showed liabilities (all unsecured) amounting to £72 7s 6d. There were no assets. The creditors wero M. Demuth, £67 15s; To Aro House Drapery Company, £1 16s; Georgo and Georgo, £19s; Dr Dawson, £1 7s 6d. Bankrupt, in a sworn personal statement, said it was obvious that the cause was the judgment which Demuth had recently obtained against him in an action brought before the Supremo Court fqr alleged libel. "I did not defend that action," said bankrupt, "although I had an ample defence of a damaging nature to Demuth. The exceptionally painful circumstances surrounding my defence made it, to my mind, the mind of an Englishman, impossible for mo to' place it boforo tlio court., although I was not blind to the fact that a judgment' ' nihil dicit' could bo obtained against mo if the judge did not hear my side of the case. However, while Ido not desire to enter into further details hero, I shall ta-ko my first .opjwtunity to give tho fullest information to" you and to my oreditore, and afterwards to tho judge when I ask for my discharge. I have no means to pay this judgment. I live on my salary, which is wholly absorbed by the needs of my family. 1 have no property, and therefore, nothing to satisfy the judgment. The few small amounts included in my liabilities I should havo settled in the ordinary way I have dono hitherto, but when threatened by Messrs Skcrrctt and Wylic, solicitors for Demuth, that they were instructed to put a bailiff into my house if their demand was not immediately satisfied, I had no alternative but to take the course I havo taken." Bankrupt, examined on oath, said ho was employed in the Land and. Income Tax Department at lis a day and no overtime. Ho had no offer to make.

To Mr Blair: The filing fee had been lent to him by a professional gentleman. He had seven children, three of whom were dependent upon him, their ages ranging from 17 to 20 years. They wero girls. His wife had private property, and earned something as a teacher of music. His wife did not contribute to the household expense. They wero living in her property, and his wife was paying o(E tho mortgage. The meeting was adjourned until the lltli inst. ■

The case referred to ( above oa-mc on for hearing at the last sitting of the Supremo Court, when Michael Bee Demuth, the principal creditor in tho estate, proceeded against Dowsing for £400 in respect of an action , for libel and slander, and obtained judgment for £50 damages, and costs. The libel consisted of a. statement made on December 12, 1906. whorein Dowsing, spanking to Demuth's employer, declared lliat his (Dowsing'*) youngest daughter, just 16 years of age. had be'en taken from tho custody of her lawful parents and induced by Demuth to enter into a. clandestine correspondence with liini; and otherwise rebel against the authority of her parenls, Dowsing demanded that Demuth should be dismissed, from his employment as a person unfit to represent tho firm of Messrs Lingard and Co., and a danger to society. Dowsing also wrote a letter to Messrs Lingard and Co, intimating that ho intended to take criminal proceedings against Demuth for his conduct towards his daughter.