MEETING OF CREDITORS.

Colonist, Volume XXII, Issue 2567, 26 June 1879, Page 3

MEETING OF CREDITORS.

RE .)JAMESRICHARD HOOPER,' 'A' DEBTOR. : An adjpurne^.,meeting of: the^oreditbrs of. the above debtor was held a$ the Court. Hopse,, oty Tuesday afternoon, when'Mr F. H. Pickering'occupied the ohair. Messrs Pitt and' Moore were present on behalf of the dvbtor, > and Mr Atkinson on behalf of' the Bank of Now Zealand and; also of Ibe general creditors. Mr Scaife, the nominated Trustee, was also in attendance. The business for whichi, the meeting was convened was the assenting to the deed of arrangement made by Mr Hooper. The creditors actually present, and the amounts for whioh they had pioved, were as under :— , ■■-,-.

In addition to these, Mr Jones, the manager of, (he Bank-of New Zealand, held a proxy fromi Messrs Fell Brothers for £199 4s Bd, and* Mr Moore, one of the debtor's solicitors, held proxies for the following ■perions:— /,',_,'._..' „, ■ ;- : ,,.,., b i,ij , t; «;0..» -.-il :

.The total liabilities set down amounted to £6,530 • 9<s 7d, and the assets to £5,510: ii: - J The Chaiema.it stated that at the previous meeting Mr John Graham and himself had been appointed to confer with the trustee, and generally to gat what information they could. They had accordingly'done what they had been requested to do,; and had laid the information they got from Messrs Scaife arid > Hooper before Mr Atkinson, who advised that Mr iQ-oorge Hooper's claim, of £3000 and ,pdd pounds, required consideration, and that lie thought it could be more fully enquired into in the' Bankruptcy .•Court.., • . ..,; :' ■ ■<■:>. -H; ->iti~. :- .• ■ \ Mr Pitt explained that the greater portion of Mr George Hooper's claim was for money advanoed toi; meet bills'due by his son to Mr Edwards, and it afterwards transpired that the money was so advanced in November, 1875; and subsequently. He continued, that if. the creditors were satisfied with the allowance given the debtor in the deed, he saw no advantage in opposing it, because the. Trustee or creditors could as easily examine into the matter as in the Bankruptcy Court. .Mr Atkinson said he understood the Trustee had already made up his mind that the claim was a good one. , : ; . • .-■.■..,■;.• i.■. ■■■ Mr Soaifb said there was no doubt the money had been advanced, but he was not quite sure as to allowing interest. Mr John Graham said the former meeting had no doubt the sums were advanced to the debtor by his father, but they had a doubt as .to the manner in which they were advanced—whether they ware only a temporary loan, or whether it was, as the debtor had stated, that the amount was to be considered as a portion of whatever was to come to him at his father's death. They had enquired into the matter, but had seen nothing to show the debt was a proper one. He considered, if the deed were assented to, that a great deal depended upon the Trustee's opinion. ■; Mr Haddow thought it highly improper for a debtor to make a deed without any referenoe to his creditors^ j:; ...... .■•... „ , ::.;'; .m-.m ;■ .. Mr Pitt said the deed was prepared in a great hurry, as the Bank of New Zsaland threatened execution. ''• '■■■'• "' ' ' sr- '•' ' ■'''■;',' ';" '" '". Mr Jones denied that. Banks were often blamed when they should not be. It was. Messrs Fell Brother* who were about to put in execution, but the writ for their claim had been issued some days before. ' ' Mr Put acknowledged the correction'as to Messrs Pell Brothers. '■ ; Mr Gbaham: then commented upon the large amount—£lso—set down for Solicitor and Trustee. Mr Soaifs said that as Trustee, whilst he had valued the assets at the lowest probable amount, he had set down the probable expenses at the highest. He did not think the expenses would be so much. Mr Atkinson said that the chief thing tu consider was, by what means they would get the largest dividend. He believed an offer of 7s 6d in the £ bad been made, and it was for the meeting to consider whether they would get so much if the matter were forced into the Bankruptcy Court. Mr Haddow thought it was'something beyond a case of £ s. d., that a man who did not act honestly ought to be shown up, and he thought this was a case that ought to be thoroughly investigated. : Mr John Gbaham : James Hooper, according to his own showing, had been bankrupt for years, since he received his father's money, and he was a bankrupt before one penny of his other debts bad been incurred. Mr Haddow : Besides that, he got goods after the writ was issued by Fell Brothers. Mr Pitt asked Mr Haddow what goods he got ? Mr Haddow: Ha got goods from other creditors and from me. Mr Pabmentbb said that if tha debtor had asked him to build him a house, ho would have done it without question, because he had told him he owed his father nothing. Mr Cock asked about the offer to pay 7s 6d in the £. made at the first meeting. Mr Geobgb Hoofeb said he withdrew that offer ; at all events at present. Mr Piebson thought they would get nothing by screwing down the debtor. They had better have accepted the previous offer. He should stand by his proposition made at the first meeting, that the deed be assented to. ■, . .\. ■ Mr Haddow proposed, as an amendment, that the deed be not assented to, in order that the debtor may be declared a bankrupt. Mr John Gbaham seconded the amendment; and the question was put. Of the creditors actually in atteudanoe the 12 following Tot«d for the amendment :—IN. Edwards and Co., Jennings, J. Price, VV. Good,' John Graham, Epps, A. Parmenter, Neale and Haddow, H. Baigent, F. N. Jones, James Graham, Colonist ; and for aeseuting to the d ed: — vieo. Hooper, Hooper and Dodson, Bank of Ne* Zealand, and J. M. Pierson ; but, inconsequence of hie plaintiff's solicitor using the votes ol all his proxies in favor of assenting to the deed, the original motion was carried by 16 to 12. . The following document, in reference to the above, nus been handed to us for publii ation : — An adjourned meeting of the creditors of the in- : solvent J. R. Hooper having been held at the Court , House this day to consider the propriety of assenting to a deed 6t •assignment of his bankrupt estate, at : whioh 17 of his creditors were present, including the i father of the bankrupt and his partner, Mr Dodson, | whose two claims combined represented more; than I the proportion required by Jaw to assent tQ^tha i debtor's proposed arrangomeut. It required therefore, | only a majority in number of the creditors'to oarry the re^uind resolution for assenting to the deed $ and

although twelve !out of the ie»ente?n.whoiwi»re. present voted for throwing the, eiUteVinto bMikrapt'7, and against assenting to, the deed, and one did ; ii<>t vote either way, yet the remaining four were en?iH jil by the aid of ten or twelve'.proxyI'TOtes,ewfiieh'itiv| been prooured by the solicitor! for I the debtor, to out-; vote the I three to one, majority ; present/•jwhp.jcn '<• i sidered that in fairness to thecommercialcoroniu.nit ly, the estate, should be thrown into' bat^k'rqptcj, and is." we believe5 that thi iaiJ deed '^cannot be' Jlej»ally. mil ■■{■!' ing until it has been signed* by each of the oWdJtor- ;- and,, further, '/jre consider;ithat^omemtiffeMfciof'tliei claims on the eptate .Mq^re^p, b;e;jery[;.oa£efullv i: i .-,] vestigated before: being -admitted, r .and, alio^spnoe. of.; the debts of ttielnsolventi'J. R.' Hooper,,' liavingbeen contracted while :a "writ >of execution;, was 1 out" against him, we, therefore, deolineito sign or giv«'6fit¥s»eiit* to the deed of arrangement, as;we consider dt^nnUirt that a debtor's soHoitor, who is.not, ev.en, : s>qcredijof,. should be allowed by » n y means'to procqi^ iTgtes by. proxy to but*vote so large a mßJoritjr l of ( aotu.jl creditors as were present at the meeting,'''to'qay, lt »nd ■ that none who. are not actual creditors shduld'be allowed to make me of proxy votes. ■■ , i r ii f i j ; Neaie and Haddow Fredk.N. Jones'<:>• I John Graham James Grahamivy hi*; I James 8. Cross, jun. W. T. Good-jj , . ,■) j A. Parmenter W. R. Waters „r , H. Baigent ' . Thomas Epps ' ";' ' Luckie and Collins ; ' / 3] | P.B.—There are other creditors who will act in the same manner as those above named, who'could1 not' be waited upon to-day ; also some of those who gare : their proxies on the representation that 7B 6^ in. ;ths ■ £ would be paid, will decline to sign the deed,.Mr G. Hooper having withdrawn the bffer of 7i Gd before the proxies wereused'at^hVyeetJtfgi yau>( wJr". \ Nelson, June 24tb; 1879V *w »« if! »»o«oani j . ■ : .: .'. ;. ..j..;.^ 1 -_^J__ t^L^-lLi_aanJiiiltlLi i

tt. llooper ... 453130 17 5 Hooper and Dodson 512 2 2 N. Edwards and Co 117 9 1 Bank of New Zealand (un> , „ ■ secured).., 99 1$ 0 Jennings, Trustee of Warner'i estate ... 60 0 0 Do. Do. ... ... 18 0 0 J. Price 20 0 0 W.Good ... 17 19 9 John Graham ,.. ... 17 0 1 T. Epps 15 14 0 A. Parmenter 14 16 0 Neala and Haddow ... ... 13 4 5 H. Baigent ... ... ... 10 17 10 F. N.Jones ... ... ... 4 10 6 , James Graham ...... 4 7 9 J. M. Pierson ... ... 3 6 0 Colonist Office ...... 3 1 0 Sharp and Pickering... ... 1 16 ,jo

J. J£. Mabin. ..... ... ...\S6Q\U 9., E. Buxton and Co ... ... 18 .2 0 F. H. Blundell :.. : ... ;;. 15 io 6 Moutray and Crdsbie ;;. ' ; ... .1O J37 10 ". : Farrelle and Collins ...i : '.v;-' 8 11' 6 ; / : Lucas and Son ... ,. ... : ;..ii i5:i :5 '■ 6■ ■ ; | Miller ... ... ;.. ,. -...'.,. 4, 6 • 0 ' Oldham... ... ... ... .3,15 11 Robertson ... ,., ... 119 0 G.Fleming ... ... ' ... ; I 0 0