A METEORIC BUSINESS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 14, 1 September 1911, Page 8

A METEORIC BUSINESS.

WILD, HAZARDOUS, AND FANTASTIC. BANKRUPT’S MENTAL CONDITION. John Georgo Hobson, formerly a builder in Auckland, who pleaded guilty last week to two out of four counts charging him with breaches of the Bankruptcy Act in failing to keep proper hooks and incurring debts at a time when he had no reasonable or probable expectation of paying them, was brought dp before Mr Justice Chapman for sentence a,t the Auckland Supreme Court on August 23th. Mr F. Earl appeared for prisoner, and pointed out the extraordinary and unusual circumstances surrounding the bankruptcy. “There arc features in this case,” said counsel, “that have caused mo considerable perplexity.” The bankruptcy was fantastic. For years the prisoner worked on wages as a joiner, and was a steady, hard-working and clean-living man, and rigorously honourable, on January last he started in business as a builder, and was adjudicated a bankrupt on May 7th. His business career was meteoric. It could not 100 said ho went up like a rocket and came down like a stick. He did not go up at all, but went rapidly to the bad. When he started in business the prisoner had a home valued at £650, and on May 7th he stood before the Official Assignee with homo and insurance money lost, and without a penny., So soon as he commenced the meteoric business career his mental condition appeared to have undergone an extraordinary change. From being a careful man in regard to finance and monetary obligations the prisoner became wild and hazardous in the extreme—so wild, hazardous, and fantastic as to suggest that his actions were duo to circumstances for which, he was not wholly responsible. Prisoner neither drjuik nor gambled, he hd a reputable life, and had rearea a family in a most creditable manner. Mr Earl stated that prisoner commenced to build on allottments on which lie had not even paid a deposit, and employed a large staff on work which could not possibly he profitable, and suggested that prisoner should be mentally examined in regard to his condition. William Rowe was called as a witness, and gave evidence on the mental change that, had taken place in the prisoner. From a quiet and

steady man lie developed a violence of language and rashness in speculation that indicated lie was not rational. His habits became irregular, and he often wont out at midnight, causing Jus family anxiety, and refusing to explain. Ho opened a shop, filled it with second-hand furniture, started a joinery shop, and then wanted to embark in a pork butchery shop, but the people with whom he was dealing closed down on him. Robert McKinstry detailed similar instances of eccentricity, in one conversation prisoner declaring that he was going to make £IOO a week by building houses and purchasing a bush. A further remand was granted till Friday next, so that in the meantime prisoner may be examined.