FARMER’S BANKRUPTCY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18736, 14 December 1922, Page 11

FARMER’S BANKRUPTCY

MEETING OF CREDITORS. A meeting of creditors in the estate of IDVederick James Blakie, farmer, of Invercargill, was held in the office of the Deputy Official Assignee on Monday afternoon (reports the Southland Times). The bankrupt owed £1919 15s 8d to unsecured creditors, other liabilities amounting to £12.760 ■ were covered by two mortgages on property valued at £13,500. Assets were stated to • be £768 15s 4d. being £740 surplus from securities and £2B 15s 4d book debts estimated to produce the full amount. The deficiency was thus £llsl. _ , The secured creditors were Dunedin Savings Bank £8640 on first mortgage and Southland Farmers’ Co-operative Association £4aoo on second mortgage. Blakie was adjudged bankrupt on the petition of the Southland Farmers’ Co-operative Association. Unsecured creditors were J. G. Ward and Co., £l3l 7s 8d; J. E. Watson and Co., £24 6s 3d; N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., £1417 9s 2d; National Mortgage and Agency Co., £113; Wright, Stephenson, £l2 17s 7d; Southland Frozen Meat Company, £2O; Booth Macdonald, £73 5s lOd; Russell and Meredith, £lO9 9s 2d; William Carter, £lB. In his written statement bankrupt said he started farming on his own account in 1912 with £ISOO, which with £ISOO borrowed on the security of his fifth share of his late father s estate he put into an 1862-acre farm at Glencoe. It was then in. its natural state. He gave £3 12s an acre for the place, and since purchasing same, he had spent £6OOO on it, erecting a six-roomed dwelling house with all conveniences, a 12-stall stable, shearing shed, barn, implement shed, and sheep yards. In addition he erected nine miles of fencing at a cost of about £1 a chain. He had broken up, cultivated, and grassed practically the whole of the area. Less than a year ago the property was valued at £7 10s an acre by competent valuers, and it should realise that sum at present. While holding the property he also farmed two . other properties, one at Lochiel and the other at Mabel Bush, and did well on both. Those had been sold. While at Glencoe he did business with all the mercantile firms in Invercargill principally in stock, exceeding £400,000, on which they received the usual commission and interest on current account. Until 1919 he did well. Then he leased the property and guaranteed the lessees’ account with the Southland Farmers’ Co-operative Association. In 1921 the place came back into his hands, and in August of that year he received a statement from the Southland Farmers' Co-operative Associa-* tion showing he had been debited with the account owing by the lessees, £4212 11s Bct, and a second mortgage was taken over the Glencoe property to secure that amount. His own private account with the firm was then in credit. In April, 1920, by arrangement with the Loan Company, he guaranteed an account of £449 9s lOd with them, and that was now included in the amount owing by him to the Loan Company. He was endeavouring to carry on in the hope of making payment in full, but action taken by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company mad© that impossible. They declined securities he offered, although other firms accepted them, and were still prepared to assist him. Had he been given the opportunity he was satisfied ' ho could have paid everybody, though it would have taken some time. He attributed his present position to (1) , the general depression and drop in prices ■ of land and stock; and (2) having to bear the responsibility of the guaranteed accounts. But for that he would have been in a good position to-day. In answer to questions, he said the £6OOO spent on the property consisted principally 'of buildings, £I6OO sheepyards, £4O outbuildings, £3O fencing, £750 breaking, discing, and grassing 1400 acres at £4 4s — £5600; deposit of £SOO, grading roads, telephone, manures, say, £ISOO to £2OOO. The farm at Hedgehope was leased for seven years at £BOO a year. The rent was debited to the lessee’s account, and he presumed was credited to him. . To Mr Hall: It had been suggested to him that it would be all right to put in the house where he was living. That house now belonged to his wife. His motor car. now belonged to his mother, given to her in part for grazing. He had shown the house in a half-yearly statement to the Loan Company by request, as he had been told the property had been included previously in statements of his position sent to headquarters. In reply to further examination, the bankrupt said his wife had taken over, subject to the mortgage of £ISOO and to his mother’s lifetime interest, his share of his father’s estate. That hod been done when his financial position was strong. Mr Hall: Eighteen months ago ho made a statement of assets and liabilities that pur ported to show that he was worth practically £24,000. To-day he had a deficit of £llOO. The bankrupt was closely cross-examined by Mr Hall (New Zealand Loan Company) and Macalister \ (Southland Farmers’ Co operative Association) as to statements he had made purporting to show his financial position from time to time. In particular he was asked about the value he had set on the farm, and said he had been offered £4O an acre in 1919 for the place for subdivision. He said the Invercargill firms had had £IO,OOO in commissions and about £2OOO in interest from him in nine years. He valued the farm loft in his father’s

estate at £28.000, though it had been sworn at £IO,OOO 19 years ago. He honestly thought the property was worth £28,000 in, 1919. He admitted to Mr Macalister that. Borne of the statements he had made to the "Loan Company had been made carelessly, because at the times he began to make them there was never a thought in hi 3 mind that he would ever be in the position he was in at present. It ,was moved by Mr F. Scandretfc (Loan Company), and seconded by Mr Owen /Southland Farmers' Co-op:} that Mrs Blaine be called upon to hand over to the creditors the Gladstone house and interest in bankrupt's father's estate, and in the event of her refusing to do so, steps be taken to, en force same. The resolution was carried, and the meeting then closed.