MOTION IN BANKRUPTCY

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1930, Page 6

MOTION IN BANKRUPTCY

RIGHT TO REPRESENT CREDITORS. HAWERA DISAGREEMENT SEQUEL. A dispute as to which solicitor should represent the creditors in an interesting case, which was responsible for the indefinite adjournment of a meeting of ’ creditors in Hawera some weeks ago, has been decided by the Supreme Court. r Mr. L. A. Taylor offered to indemnify t'he Deputy-Official Assignee, Mr. R. S. Sage, against costs if he (Mr. Taylor) was allowed to represent the creditors, ’ of whom he is one. Mr. Sage would not agree to this as he is usually represented in court by Messrs O’Dea and Bayley. Mr. Taylor made application to the Supreme Court for an order allowing him to represent the creditors and, after he had reserved his decision, Mr. Justice Reed upheld the motion. 1 The point involved is an interesting one that had hot previously been tested. Native land is exempt from the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, but it is not considered clear whether this also applies to money received from the sale of native land. In this particular instance Ueroa' Ngarewa, a bankrupt of Pa tea, had an interest in some West Coast Settlement Reserve land. Shortly after a motion for his discharge had been filed, but before it had come before the court, the land was sold, bankrupt receiving £3OO. The motion for discharge has been twice adjourned and will again he heard at the August session of the Supreme Court in New Plymouth. In the course of his judgment, His Honour stated: The principal contention of the Deputy Official Assignee is that he should have the right to nominate a solicitor to have the conduct of the proceedings. This, of course, is quite an untenable position. An official assignee has a right to appoint his own solicitor, but in this case as the other creditors in the estate are not prepared to give an indemnity the minority creditors, who are prepared to do so, have the full conduct of the proceedings, including the appointment of their own solicitor. That the court has the jurisdiction to make the order asked for I do not doubt. The only question that troubles me is as to whether it would be better to accept the compromise offered. I have not considered the probabilities of success, and I think therefore that the order should be made, sub- ’

ject to tho right of the Deputy Official Assignee to come to the court in such form of proceedings as he may be advised to obtain an order declaring whether or not, assuming it to be still open, the compromise should be accepted. The order will therefore be made in the following terms: It is ordered that L. A. Taylor be at liberty to use the official name of the Deputy Official Assignee in an action to be brought to determine whether a sum of £360 held by Mr. T. E. Roberts, of Patea, ae solicitor for Ueroa Ngarewa, bankrupt, is or is not an asset in the estate upon the following conditions: —That L. A. Taylor before commencing any action shall give a proper indemnity against the costs and shall deposit £5O as security for the payment of the costs, and further that the D.O.A. shall be at liberty notwithstanding to enter into any compromise arrangement subject to such consent of the creditors as may be requisite under the provisions of the Act, and to the consent of the court upon due notice to L. A. Taylor, with full power to the court, if approving of the compromise, to make such an order as in the premises may seem fit.” Mr. Spratt moved tho motion and Mr. Mathews, acting for the D.0.A., opposed it. PATEA HARBOUR AFFAIRS. BOARD’S MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Patea Harbour Board was held at Patea yesterday, there being present Messrs A. T. Christensen (chairman), A. Pearce, A. N. Williams and W. H. Watkins. The harbourmaster (Captain W. Tinney) reported that from observations made he would say that there 'was 12ft of water between tho walls and 13ft on the bar at high water spring tides, and about Bft 6in between the walls and 9ft 6in on the bar at high water neap tides. The weather had been too rough to obtain soundings on the bar. He had not been down the walls since he had returned. There had been seven arrivals and seven departures since his previous report, three going out on the lights. The Hawera had made five trips and the Inaha two trips. He had been an inmate of the Patea Hospital from July 5 to July 28, during which time Captain McLachlan, of the Kapuni, had undertaken his duties. Since the previous meeting the drag plant had shifted 2490 cubic yards of silt, reported the dredgemaster, Mr. A. H. Mercer. The boiler connected to the plant had been inspected and passed, retaining its original pressure. He had assisted Captain McLachlan to sound the river on July 24 and found considerable shoaling in two or three places. | During spring tides the dredge dredged 630 cubic yards. The most important place to be kept clear was the channel between the two wharves to allow vessels to shift down to tile loading berth when discharged. The reports were adopted. The table-of imports and exports for June was as follows, the figures for the corresponding month of last year being in parentheses:—lmports, 420 tons (286 tons); exports, 977 tons (665 tons); approximate value of exports, £94,800 (£70,200). PERSONAL. Mrs. and Miss Southon, Christchurch, are the guests of Mr. and Mrs. R. Willis, Beach Road, Patea. Mr. F. S. Dyson, Ptfblic Works engineer for the Auckland district, is visiting Stratford. He was a cadet at Stratford I in 1904. '