SOUTH OTAGO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20781, 29 July 1929, Page 5

SOUTH OTAGO.

BALCLUTHA DISTRICT NEWS. (From Our Own Correspondent ) BALCLUTHA, July 27. SCHOOL .FOOTBALL. Balelutlia Primary School easily defeated Kaitangata on the Balelutlia Ground to-day, the scores being:—Bal-Clut-ha 20 points, Kaitangata nil. Bala on for the schools’ banner. BANKRUPT CONTRACTOR. A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of W. A. Aitkenhead, a well-known local contractor for county road works, was held at the Balelutlia courthouse yesterday afternoon. Six creditors were represented, and Mr Breinner appeared for the bankrupt, whose liabilities amounted to £332 12s, and assets to £24. Mr J. Oliver was appointed chairman. The assets comprised an aged mare, valued at £2O an ” a graSS Seei * sapper, valued at

ihe list of creditors, all of whom were unsecured, was as follows:—lmport Company, £3O: Otago Fanners’ Co-op.', £3O; Rational Mortgage and Agency Company £46; ‘Bests.” £3; Stewarts, £7 10s; Sinclair Bros., £10; Gold and Sons, £10; Uutha Implement Exchange, £25; Guest and Sons. Ltd., £00; N. M‘Kay, Clydevale. £ls; 1. Oliver, Clinton. £18; W. Keep. £5; Kean and.'Weddell, £5: A. Paterson' Port Molyneux. £5; Wilson Elliott, £4; Electric Power Board, £2; W. Arnold, £2; G. A. Turner, Moniington, £10; Dalgetv and Co., £3 12s; R. M‘Combe, £2 10s; ‘M. G. bhepherd, £4; total, £332 12s. ■ . . Bankrupt produced a written statement as follows:—In April, 1927, I took a. contract at Lawrence, which was supposed to be for a job totalling about £3OO, but when the _;ob was finished it amounted to only £l-0. I had a lot of expense shifting men and gear, etc., up there, and to compensate for my loss the engineer promised me repair work on the roads and kept me waiting about two months, but owing to wet weather it fell through. T lost heavily on this contract. I was out of work for five months, then 1 took on a contract metalling the road at Awamangu for the Bruce County Council. The quarry ran out, which meant considerable extra expense. Some of my creditors began to press at this stage, which caused me a bit more inconvenience and expense, and loss of time causing me to lose some hundreds of pounds on this contract. I should have tiled then, but thought that I would give it another good try to meet my creditors. I took on a contract ploughing for. Mr MTarlane, Clydevale, in August, 1928, but with the exceptional wet spring, being laid aside with influenza and two accidents, meant that 1 lost also on this job. In addition.to this I lost four valuable horses, one was drowned in the Molyneux River; .another broke its teg and two died through sickness. 1 am out of work, and have been for some months. I can see nothing else for it but to file, as some of the creditors have been issuing judgment summonses. I have a wife and one child. Bankrupt was examined at considerable length by Mr Kelly a fid other' creditors’ representatives, chiefly as to' what had become of the contracting plant which bankrupt had used in conjunction with his two brothers. Bankrupt indicated that, the bulk of the plant had belonged to his brothers, and as to the contract for cutting “ brown top ” (a variety of seed) at Otanomomo, his wife had conducted that, and bankrupt had made nothing out of it. _ Eventually it was decided to adjourn the meeting to secure the attendance of Mrs Aikenhead, the books of both to be produced.. As an alternative to proceeding further, it was agreed to accept an offer of 15s in the f should such be forthcoming. ...