Supreme Court.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 60, 23 July 1868, Page 2

Supreme Court.

— 4 — In Bankruptcy. Tii ia Day. (Beforo Mr Justice Grosson.) The adjourned sittings in bankruptcy were held at noon to-dny, UB DAVID lILOOM. 1 Mr Wynn William* appeared for the bankrupt, aud Mr Oarrlek. on behalf of tho petitioning creditors, Messrs Twentyman aud i 'oiiflln. Catherine Bloom, in answer to Mr Garrlck, doposed ; Tho boohs have boon kept hy mo, not by my husband. Uo can neither rend nor write, exoept his signature. Thuchcquo from Mr D. Davis, on 23rd October, for £53 12-*, was punned through tho bank, with other moneys, on tho day after It was paid— the 21th. That lam quite sure of. Tho books were made up by Mr Fisher, with my assistance. I paid £100 12s into tho bunk on October 24th. 1 never received any cheque* ! from Mr Hurt for £57, on account of butter. I received it by cash It was passed into the bank— at all events tho greater part of it— on tho 24th October. Mr Garrlck : It appear* from your bankbook thnt only jC.'JS lOs was paid in between tho 24th October and 4lh November. Your takings during that period amounted to about £140, nnd I want to know what has become of the £100 unaccounted for, Witnais ; All the tubings wctc cither paid Into the bank or laid out in the l)U«iae*s. In most cases, tho money which Mr Bloom took in the courso of business up-country, was not entered in tho books produced. Mr IMooin borrowed £ir> from Mr Raphael on tho 24th October, Most likely, ho required the monoy to obtain produce to bring up-country. All tho receipts woro puid into tho bank or laid out iv supplying stock, with tho exception of what was taken for household expense*), Mr Hart is my brother, Ho was a dealer and shopkeeper in Hokitika at tho timo tho £230 wero borrowed from him. 110 is in Dunedin now, but not in business. Ho paid £200 in cash and tho remainder in two drafts from Hokitika for £30

and £20. The £200 wero paid In the *hop, mostly, I think, in £10 notes, I wrote tho acknowledgment of the receipt of tho £200, and my husband put Ids signature to it. Ie was specified In this paper writing thnt Mr Hart was to have security of tho house when it should bo built. Wo stopped busine** in April. We have had transactions with Mr Hart in respect to buttor and eggs. The remittances from Mr Hart were accompanied by letters, which havo been destroyed. Part of tho £100 19s 4d received for butter was paid away in Danedln to various parlies, and the remainder to Jacobs am] liaaesand Mr Raphael, on account of an old debt. Wo paid away most of tho Insurance money in satisfaction of old debts. A great many of theic old debts were in respect to goods which wero consumed In tha flro. At the time wo were burnt out, 1 think we were indebted to tho amount of £400 or £500—certainly £400, nnd not nbovc £500. The first pressure we had was when Mr Hart demanded a mortgage over tho building. By his getting tho mortgage ovor tho promises, it came to tho knowledge of Mr Twentyman. and he raised a great noiso about it, asserted that Mr Bloom had given a bill of side ovir hi-i atock, and required him to give bim a writing to the effect that such was not the cue. Hearing this, tho other creditors pushed us, and thoso who could do so, threatened to sue us. Simmons and Co,, Cobb and Saw toil, nnd Mr Davis, are still creditors. It was about threo days after the execution of tho mortgage that Mr Twenty-m-ui rai.ed the bother. Mr Twentynun went with Mr Bloom to Mr Wynn Williams' office, in order to be satisfied that no bill of sale had been given over the stock. We called our creditors together about tho 2nd of April. On tho 4th of Maroh, a horso and cart wero sold for £30 to meet a bill of Mr Davis', which ho declined to renew. Tho horse and enrt cost £7S. ' Wo were pressed to sell them to meet Mr Davis' demand. We carried on the shop trade as usual until we called our creditors together. Tho shop business never paid expenses -. it was the outdoor business which chiefly carried us through, lam not a sullklcnt -scholar to sp'ak a* to tbe profit and lossof the business. It was not patent to us (Utiie timo wo sold the horse and cart that wo could no to carry on. Wo had good friends, bnt thej wero not at hand At the moment, and until the Inat day we thought that Mr Davis would renew bis bill. Had wo known this beforo, wo could havo obtained tho monoy for him. Mv brother is a man of means— of courso ho must havo been to havo lent £230. Uy Mr Williams— The new building <wst from X3SO to £400, It hos all been paid. Wo could not have bui't tho houso without the aid of my brother. Wo havo been burnt out on two occasions. Wo were totally uninsured tho first timo * nnd the last time the a ttount of insurance did not cover one half the valuo of tho stock which was on the premises at the time. My brother pressed several times for security of the house, nnd came down to Christchurch about it. Ho was hero at the timo the mortgage was signed, Ho came down on purpose to receive It, He did not ask us to give a bill of sale over our stock as well. The butter sent to Dnnedin was sold at a great reduction. Onr correspondent could not disposo of it, and this necessitated my husband's proceeding to Dunedin, Edward Preston deposed; A man named Hart came to mo in respect to tho mortgage produced. He said that Mr Bloom owed blm somo money, which ho had ndvanced on tho faith that he was to get security of the building. There was nothing said a* to the bill of hale. Mr Twentyman cxmio to me about a bill of sole, which I assured him did not cxUt. By Mr Garrlck : I never saw the memorandum on which Mr Ploom was to giro security of the building. Mr Garrlck submitted that the evidence on tho whole elo irly made out that tho conduct of this insolvent was such as to disentitle him to tho protection which the Court would otherwise afford, for the longest period which tho statute admitted. Being a trader, he had not kept proper books or accounts, and bad contracted debts without any reasonable prospect of paying them. He would leave the matter as to tho giving of the s*eu* ity entirely in the hands of the Court, It came out In evidence that the bankrupt resumed business after tho lire on tho insurance and other moneys, amounting in tho aggregate to £500 or £iioo. It wns perfectly clear, both from tho evidence of the bankrupt, and that of bis wife, who was the person substantially managing his outdoor business at least, that ut that timo ho was indebted to nn amount within £100 of the whole sum which he obtained on account of insurance, &c In point of fact, his means at the time of resuming business consisted of £60, the valuo of the dihris of tho stock, and tho balance whioh remained after paying his old debts— leaving a whole sum of £tOOor thereabouts, This was substantially reechoed by Mrs Bloom. His Honor would see tbat tho bankrupt practically engaged in business with n trifling amount of money — nearly tho whole of what he obtalnci on account of insurance, &c, being disposed of by him in what, in law, would amount to a preference of ono creditor over another. After n period of eight or nine months, he wound up his business with an admitted deficit of £949, less tbo amount realised by the stock, Tho bankrupt mated that he could do nothing mora than sign his own name, iho books wero kept by v person incompetent to keep them, and the consequence was that it was altogether impossible to&*certain whether the business was satisfactorily carried on. Ignorance on the one hand, and want of recollection on the other, successfully baffled any attempt on the part of the creditors to ascertain iv what manner theso parties conducted their business. The bank* rupt bad furnished a statement In which he alleged that his household expenses were at thorato of £170a-year, but when he was asked the question in Court, he answered that his household expenses. amounted from £9 to £9 a-wcek. Tho Inspector informed

tho Court thnt a luold ntntcmont had been proparcd by an accountant j but ho (Mr Garrlck) oould not think othorwlflo thnn Hint tbe /iccountn had been cooked up for this examination, Tho ntntcmont gave no Information to tho nrcdltorn, but merely afforded a cluo to v nyntom of oonf union, Suroly tbo Court oould not tolerate mtoh a nlnto of ihlogn, On the contrary, when a person entered Into bunluonn, whether on n largo or a flinall nealo, ho ahould bo propnrcd, ln tho event of bnnkriiptcy, to /urnl*h to bin credltorn tho vory fullcat Information, in order that Ihcy might bo able to judge whether bin ponltlon aroao from minfortuno, or wan brought about by dlnhonont Jniontbn, Tbo bankrupt muat havo known that bin nfTnlrn worn In an Innolvcnt condition at tho timo ho took tho butter from Mr Ruddle Tho pica of ignorance could not hero booonnldorod any more tlian that of drunkennena In extenuation for crime. Ho nubmlttcd on tho wholo, that bin Honor must rcfuao tbo bankrupt bin order rf dln-bnrgo for twelve montha, Mr Wynn Wllllama contendod that tho bankrnpt'n nunpenHlon of bunlncnn wna nlto* gether owing to tho r< port circulated by Mr Twentyman, that ho had given a bill of aalo over bin fltock, and tho conacquonl pressure of crodltnrn, Ufa Honor nald there wan no ovldonco of ponltlvo fraud In the cane, but ho munt mark bin dlMiinroval of tho bnnkrnpl'n cnrolcnnncnn fn keeping hia accounts, by flunpondlng tho ■flnnl order of dlnchurgo for fi montha, uu piiKnuntoic unm, On tho application of Mr Graham, thia enno wnn adjourned until to-morrow week, at 12 o'clock, •