A Dunedin Bankruptcy.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6894, 15 June 1892, Page 3

A Dunedin Bankruptcy.

Dunedin, to-day. — The meeting of Arthur McDonald's creditors promises to furnish some startling revelations. It is alleged that bankrupt forwarded to England large quantities of rabbit skins aud wool falsely packed with inferior qualities beneath the surface. Bankrupt stated that in the early part of 1890, he was worth £20,000. Owing to a fall in the wool market of 20 to 25 per cent, he incurred a loss of about £40,000. This left him owing Brooms and Co., London, about £15,000, and Low, Sons, and Bedford about £6000. He saw these firms, and they gave him fresh credit, and allowed him to go on. On his return he made a commission of £1000 on his first large order to buy oats, which it seems was paid pro rata to the firms. Other orders came in which turned out well, and the profits he made were placed in his wife's hands as trustee. He first heard the complaints of false packing of rabbit skins on his arrival at Hobart in October. He admitted giving instructions detailed in the evidence of his employee as to packing, but denied that it amounted to false packing. A letter was put in by the bankrupt to Low and Sons, Bedford, who had complained of the false packing of wool, in which it was stated that an expert would be engaged to undertake the packing and classing who had no interest in the packing in the manner complained of except to show good results from his work. It concluded : "It is needless to say he is no longer in my employ." Cross-examined as to who this meant, bankrupt had to admit that the expert had not been in charge of Low's wool, complained of. The cross-examination was very lengthy. Davis, who packed the wool complained of, then gave evidence that he did not do so according to McDonald's instructions. All through the enquiry Mr Hosking, who appeared fcr bankrupt, kept up a vigorous protest as to its conduct and scope. He said that the meeting had been converted into a tribunal of an extraordinary character. They had been brought there not knowing what they had to meet. Charges of extravagance of living Mere made, as well as a number of others, at the instance of one of the creditors, who had at his disposal bankrupt's clerk and books. No meeting of creditors was ever intended for such a purpose. A motion giving bankrupt five guineas a week for four weeks was carried unanimously. It is calculated that the distilleries of Scotland turn out annually £10,000.000 worth of spirits, and this vast amount is manufactured by only 2000 persons ; whereas trom railway returns we learn that for the same volume in railway traffic — £10,000,000 — no less than 50,000 men find employment. Mr Edison, who has done so much to make inaudible sounds audible, is afflicted with an incurable deafness. Mr Poulteny Bigelow asked him if the inventor who has brought the telephone so near to perfection could not do something for his own hearing. " Easily, if the drum was sound," was his answer. "When I was a boy," he continued, " I sold peanuts and newspapers on the railway trains. One day a baggage porter lifted me from the ground by my ears — the membranes snapped, and that is how I became deaf. " During the hearing of the evidence at the Arbitration Court in Ballarat, an expert deposed that a gallon of whisky cost the publican about 16s ; retailed out in ninety-six drinks, it gives a return of £2 Bs, or 200 per cent. Brandy cost more than whisky, so that the average profit obtained on all spirits was reduced to about 150 per cent. Beer, further stated the witness, cost Is lid per gallon wholesale, and, retailed, it brought in 4s per gallon. Temperance drinks and cigars each gave a profit of 100 per cent. During the voyage of the barque Scottish Lass from Glasgow to Brisbane, the vessel, while going about 13 knots, struck a large whale. The vessel sustained some damage below the water line from the force of the collision, three frames and an angle-iron stringer being broken. An iron beam was twisted, and some of the plates and rivets were started. Church of England Country Services. — Sunday next : Makauri 3, Canon Webb ; Makaraka ll(Children'sService); Waerenga-a-hika, 3; Ormond, 7. — (Advt.) The stealing of an umbrella on a clear day is held to be a theft by a Judge, but th° stealing of the same article on a rainy day i s held to be justifiable, on the ground of selfdefence. The stealing of a pair of boots is never justifiable ; they are not worth stealing when you can buy them so cheap at Hennessy's. Gentlemen's Carpet Slippers, 2s 6d.— (Advt.)