IN BANKRUPTCY

Otago Witness, Issue 3510, 21 June 1921, Page 49

IN BANKRUPTCY

A SOUTHLAND SHEEP FARMER’S AFFAIRS. A meeting of creditors in the estate 01 Robert Martin, who until recently occupied a sheep run at Atliol, was held in the official Assignee’s office, Invercargill, on V\ cdnesday (states the Southland limes). 'J he meeting was attended by Mr H. Mucalister acting on behalf of the Official Assignee, Mr Eustace Russel], representing Mr H. M’Donald, Mr Jolly, representing Todd Bros., Ltd.. Mr Sutherland, representing Wright, Stephenson, and Co., Mr C. A. Barrett, representing Booth, M’Donald. and Co., and Mr F. C. Smith, on behalf of Pasco Bros. Mr W. L. Moore appeared for Ihe bankrupt, whose total debts amounted to £6892 14s 6d, and assets to £844 7s 9d, being the surplus from securities in the hands of secured creditors. Tile principal unsecured creditors were as follow:—Wright, Stephenson, and Co., Dunedin. £500; Thomas Giendining. Dunedin. £107; F. W. Mitchell, Dunedin. J 8450; A. M. Sidey, commission agent. Dunedin, £500; E. Price, accountant, Dunedin, £200; C. Butterworth, Dunedin, £200; E. \jc >ve, Dunedin, £200; H. M’Donald, jeweller, Dunedin] £200; R. A. Mathewson, sharebroker, Dunedin. £100; G. Ritchie, Dunedin, £100; A. Gillies, merchant, Dunedin, £100; H. M'Neill. tobacconist, Dunedin, £100; Todd Bros., Ltd., Dunedin, £IOO 12s 6d; A. C. Mills, Otautan, £108; James Samson. auctioneer. Dunedin, £300: M’Olashan College. £IOB. 'The secured creditors were: David Wilson. retired farmer, Dunedin, £1300: Robert Brunton. retired farmer, Dunedin. £SBO 12s 3d, estimated value of security £4125; J. G. Neil, chemist. Dunedin. £I4OO. In his statement the bankrupt said that at the beginning of 1917. on account of ill health, his doctor advised him to give up liis banking profession and to take un nti outdoor life. 111 Anril. 1917. he purchased a Government leasehold property at Athol, consisting of 4860 acres, as a going concern at an annual rental of £llO. with plant and stock. Tho price was £4750. There were supposed to be 1600 sheep and 600

lambs besides a full complement of horsec and farm implements. There were six draught horses and three hacks, but when tile sheep were tailed there was not a full muster and ne had no claim, ihe horses were all right, but tlie implements were u poor lot, and he had to replace most of them at a cost of about £2Ol. lie hail only £ioo capital to put inio the place. The balance \va.s secured »)> a mortgage on tlie leasehold and by <i bill of sale over tile stock and plant. lie improved the house and grounds at a cost of &ICOO. Ue iiad not anticipated spending nearly a* much us that, but once the alterations had begun extras were added and the cost greatly exceeded his anticipations. In November, 1917, he leased a further 969 acres from Mrs Gibson at a rental of £156 per annum. lie did this on the advice of a competent man, as it was thought that it would increase the carrying capacity of the run. There was about lvX) acres of iirstclass liver flat land on this property. However, tiie property did not turn out a» expected, and was a loss to him ail tho time he held it. r lhe lease expired last November. lie had iiniod 70 acres of his run during the first year. The winter of 1918 was very severe and lie iost practically £4OO worth of sheep he had bought at Mossburu, and also several hundred of his own. lie had also lost 20 head of cattlo that winter. He consequently had no surplus stock to seli that year, and his only source of income was the wool. About July, 1919, he had about 300 fat sheep to sell and the price was high, but owing to the coal strike he could not get them trucked and had to turn them out on to the run again. The summer of 1919-20 was a particularly dry one in his district, and the turnip crop was practically a failure, although sown twice. He had 69 acres in turnips that year, lie also had 69 acres in oats, which yielded a very poor return. Owing to tiie above misfortunes he got behind and in the spring of 1919 his wi fa put £SOO into the place and added a further £4OO at different times latei on. At tho end of 1920 he was informed that £BOOO cash could be got for the place, but he decided not to sell as he thought that the outlook was promising. It was thought that when the commandeer was off, wool would go up to 2s 6d per lb and grazing runs wc-re being much sought after. Numbers of his farming triends advised him to hold on. If he hud sold out then he could have cleared his creditors. When the slump came on at the beginning of this year he realised that he hud made a mistake in not selling out and that his prospects were ruined. In March as he could not pay up the holder of the bill of sale took possession and ho at once called his creditors together and assigned his estate to trustees. Tiie trustees, with tho consent of the bill of sale holder had now sold tho run for £4125. Ho attributed his failure partly to lack of sufficient capital and to lack of experience, also to bis heavy losses in stock and crop and to the unprecedented and unexpected slump in wool. Although he had no right to do so he anticipated some financial assistance from wealthy friends at Home, otherwise he did not think that he would have taken on such a big responsibility with his small capital.

In March, 1920, he got an advance of £2OCO on the stock for which he gave a bill of sale to 11. .S, Black. This was to pay off a previous bill of sale. The bill of sale was not registered and in November Black applied for payment. lie paid Black £6OO in December, borrowing the money to do so, and in February he got the balance from J. Neil on a registered bill of sale through Duncan and MacGregor. Neil took posses, sion of the stock, but agreed to send them back to the property so as not to prejudice the sale of the run, being guaranteed payment by the creditors at a private meeting. Neil did not sell the stock. By Mr Maealistor: Neil seized under (he bill of sale early in April. He did not know why Neil had seized. There was no fixed date for the bill of sale. Black had threatened to seize the stock at one time and had actually sent a bailiff to Gore. He signed Neil s bill of sale in February and Neil seized at the end of March. He was anxious to pay off Black and so called on Mr Duncan, of Duncan and .MacGregor, who told him shortly afterwards that ho had got the money from Neil. Duncan had no inspection made of the stock and so the money was lent without any knowledge as to whether the stock was in existence. As far ns he knew Duncan did not know Black. The second mortgage was given to Brunton to secure money lent to him to pay off Orr Campbell, the builder, and Waters, Ritchie. There was a distress warrant issued and he got the money through Moore, Moore, and Nichol. Orr Campbell’s account was for part of the alterations and Waters, Ritchie and Co.'s account was for money lent and they had issued a distress warrant. The second mortgage was arranged at the beginning of the year, but he did not know when it was registered. It was resolved that the sale by auction of the mu, stock, and plant as n going concern by the trustees under deed of assignment to J. T. Hamilton for £4125 lie confirmed. and that the acts done by the trustees up to the date of filing be also confirm! t 1 end their incidental expenses paid out of the estate. It was further resolved that tile action of tho trustees in recognising Neil’s bill of sale as valid in accordance with the decision nt a private meeting he confirmed, and that no action be taken by the Assignee in tho matter. The meeting then adjourned.