FARMER’S BANKRUPTCY.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1930, Page 14

FARMER’S BANKRUPTCY.

FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS £lOO OWING TO LAND AGENT INQUIRY AT CREDITORS’- MEETING! Questions- regarding the non-payment of a, debt .shown as £lOO to E. L. Mason, land agent, New Plymouth, were asked at a meeting of creditors, in the bankrupt estate :of Ernest W. Hindrup, Waiters, in the office of the D.O.A. (Mr. J. SI S. Medley.) at New Plymouth yesterday. Hindrup showed debts amounting to. £244 Os 6d and assets £4l 3s 2d. The creditors were E. L. Mason. New Plymouth,” £lOO 14s 6dDirs. Walker and Blackley, New-Plymouth,: £7 7s; J. Scott,'Ngaere, £1 ISs; G. Kehely, Stratford, £1 Is; Pauline M. Hindrup, Waitara, £loo'-, Jean. Hindrup, £33. ‘‘Mr. C.’R. Stead-represented Mrs. and Miss Hindrup, and Mr. J. H.'S heat represented bankrupt. The only creditor present was .Mr. ID. L. Mason, who. was represented by Sir. L. Al. <Moss. 7 • , In his' written statement, bankrupt said that abiut •191'ff he was leasing a small farm at Fox ton but'Mien called up for active-service he'soW his stock. As the result of conditions in cainp he was under the' doctor' for over a- year and at the end of that time had”'nothing. .In 1921 he bought a- house at. Feilding, to do which -he borrowed-£lOO from his wife,- which he promised to pay on the sale of the house. Four and a- ! half • years later he exchanged the house property for a. farm at Okoke. As a term iof the exchange he received, certain money, the whole of which went in paying legal expenses ' of- the sale, purchase of additional stock and erecting buildings on-the land.' - ' No money was repaid‘ to'his wife. He was misled as to the boundaries- and found in consequence he had taken over a property other tihan that which had been pointed out to him. He took steps to cancel the deal but was eventually adviced not to proceed with- an action and was left with an unprofitable farm. He remained ,on the property only six months, refusing to pay aiiy‘interest.' Eventually, he transferred the property back to the vendor, who gave him a full discharge. MOVE TO FRAN-KLEY ROAD. ■ From there he went to Frankley Road and thence to a - leasehold farm at Kent Roacl, of which Mr. and Mrs. A. Weir held a sub-lease from’Mr. C. R. Stead. He took that over in June, 1926. To enable him to stock the farm, he purchased IS cows from Mrs! IVeir for £234, borrowing £2OO from Mr. Stead and leaving £34 owing to Mrs. Weir. For the goodwill of the Idase he was to . pay £SO. T ■ ,i ■_ After adjustments £lll. was owing to the ‘Weirs and this was reduced to £lOO in consequence of their not complying with.’arrangements over a fence, Cas/h payments .reduced the total " to £B7. ■ About. October; 1927,’this debt was taken oter 'by'Mr, E; L. Mason. Certain payinciits'. of interest had been made but ’tlie .principal had riot been'reduced. He had agreed to -.repay the £2OO borrowed from Mr. Stead at £lO per -month. He was-i,unable' to do this, but did ; ?his best, 'Cbjisidering; that the de'bt on the stock should ■be repaid before the unsecured one to- Mr. Mason. He had reduced the .forhier to £124 6s 3d in Octribcr, 1929. During the latter part of this -period, iii; consequence of Mr. Mason’s repeated; attempts, to obtain payment, he had approached Mr, Stead with ,a .view to securing a further advance ,to I settle with. Mason. Mr. S'tqad . eventually agreed to advance.a' further £5O if Mr. Nlason would accept, that' in settlement, but he did 'not. consider the. security • sufficient to ■advance, more. He offered Mason £6O, 'iio'ping to obtain that sum ,if .he ac-'cep-ted. MaSop refused and nothing further was .done. • No instructions’ were ever given by him to Mr. Stead to pay -.the debt , to/Mason,. Finding the position .unpleasant and Jiaving had ill-health while at Kent :R,oad;: he agreed, to sell to Mr. Young for £350. The sale was .completed on October 24,. 1929. " After several inspections’ ,he' arranged to purchase a leasehold farm at Ngaere, taking'over the property , as ■ a going, concern and arranging- for Mrs.., Stead to . finance him° The amount owing by bankrupt on, the fc'tock sold, to Mr. .Young was repaid from the money paid by him .and the balance, after payment, of the expenses:connected with the purchase ol the farm at Ngaere, was used as part purchase.money for that deal. . ’ NN3AIERE TARM TRANSACTION ’■ . ■■■ : - - :' The total cost of the Ngaere property was just over £7OO. -He’received no money but gave a -bill of sale over his •stock; a nd. plant securing £534 13s 7d, being . the ./amount advanced by Mrs. Stead to ena'ble him to complete the purchase. He,had expected to be a.ble to pay Mr. Maeon out-of what he made at Ngaere. . He had been anxious to secure the property, thinking, he would do well on it, and as the amount he required -was a'bove the usual margin of . security' he assigned all his milk money to "the mortgagee, yho paid his outgoings and allowed him £lO per month fbr' living expenses. He soon found the storik below expectations, and by arrangement with -the mortgagee replaced some of the cows, giving a fresh bill of sale to cover them. At the end. of the first season he was making no headway and in view of the low but-ter-fat I prices he decided to. sell. He received various oilers and eventually agreed to sell to Mrs. E. Lee, who . was to b’e. a cash buyer for £650. Mrs. Lee found ’ in’ the course of the dealing that she was unable to; secure the, .riioney and as her offer .was ; much higher/than, any Others,-and as he was anxious to get rid of the property, seeing no prospects of making it' pay or of.meeting his obligations, it. was arranged, that his mortgagee should advance : the outstanding rent, £63, and -take a' new security from the purchaser, giving- bankrupt a full discharge. He received promissory notes for £65, one of which for.£2s was thereupon endorsed by bankrupt.to the land agent who had arranged the sale, and agreed to reduce his'claim to £7 10s. Mason had informed him -some time .ago; 'stated - bankrupt," that he would require 10 per cent, instead-of. 5 per fpr his money.. No interest had beep, 'paid to him at the. higher rate and-judgment had recently been entered against hirn for the amount of this debt,.which, including interest and costs, now' amounted to £lOO 14s- 6d. On • November 7, 1030, he had offered to give Mason the promissory note for.£4o in settlement of the debt, desiring if possible to avoid bankruptcy and having no other means of paying.’ Mason had refused to accept the sum and stated his intention of making Hiridrup bankrupt when it suited him. Bankrupt stated that he had few other debts —apart from what was owing to his wife for allowance and his daughter for wages—but 'as he could see no prospect of paying the judgment debt owing to Mason lie had decided his only course- was to file. He was at present doing casual labour. He had an invalid daughter and no prospects. The furniture in the house he was occupy-

ing belonged to his wife. He promised some years ago to make her a regular allowance, but instead of doing: that he gave her such money as he could and she at various times purchased furniture in her own name with . that money., ' . ■ QUESTIONS BY CREDITORS. A Examined -under oath Hindrup stated that he owed’£B7 to Mason when,Mason took over the debt, from tjie Weirs. Mason had refused- £6O in settlement of the debt, saving • he , would not : give Stead £2B and let the -Weirs lose it. The reason he had not. pa.id Mason the de'bt instead’ of buying the farm at Ngaere was that lie thought he • could pay the debt more quickly on ’ the new property. . ' ' ‘ . “W'hy did' you- sell the Mangorei placet.” asked Mr. Moss. . '“Mr. Mason was. always asking me when 1 was' going to pay him,’’ ’said bankrupt. ‘‘l did -intend to pay' when I sold the .farni.” ' ' ; ‘‘You 'd>dsee Mr.’ Maeon’ after you, sold'• ” . “Yes.”; ._ .' . \ - . .■ ;.'■■■ “You had: received £350 .on the. sale, less £l5O- odd. for l.exippnses. and-lthe. balance owing on Stead’s bill of sale. That left., you about £179?” “Yes.” . ’ ’ . “You • knew the 'money wa<s owing to ■Mason and you saw him before you bought the Ngaere..farm?” . “Yes.” . “If you had instructed Mr.. Stead to pay Mason there was no reason why he should not have paid him?” | “No, not if I had .instructed, hini.”. “Why didn’t you instruct Stead toipay that money to Mason?” “Because I wanted another home. I never instructed Mr. Stead to'pay Mason. I might ha,ve told Mason anything to get rid of him.” “Actually, by going into the Ngaere farm you have lost that money of Mason's!” “Yes.” He did not remember Mason warning .him that he would be throwing his money away on the Ngaere farm. When he went on to the Ngaere property he bwed Mrs. Stead £534 but he did not reduce it at .all during the year. “Did you not make an appointment with Mason to come in and pay..him?’’ asked Mr. Moss. “No. I intended to see him. and ask his consent to put his; money into the Ngaere property. I.tried to see him but he was out.” “Then,” said Mr. Mason, ,‘Jyou allowed Mrs. Stead to take security over my money, knowing that you should have paid me.” ‘ , ' J .' Mr. Moss said he wished’to. point piit. that Mr. Ma-son did not admit the 'cor-' rcctneos of bankrupt’s statement regard-: ing Mason’s transactions with the bankrupt. .’. .: : ■;/ t . } Air. Stead said he’ wished .to point out that he had never received instructions from Bankrupt to pay Mr. Mason.