Bankrupt Loses £8500.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18465, 17 May 1928, Page 9

Bankrupt Loses £BSOO.

FARMER BLAMES MANY CAUSES FOR FAILURE SUFFERED BAD HEALTH, BAD SEASONS AND . HEAVY EXPENSES. Too dear land. losses on sheep, bad heal tli, bad seasons, and heavy expenses generally were the reasons for failure given by Arthur Thomas Shields, formerly a farmer of Hawarden, but now of Dunsandel, when he met his creditors at a meeting this morning. The Official Assignee, Mr A. W. Watters presided. There were fortythree creditors, but only three were represented at the meeting. The amount owing to unsecured creditors was £3698 11s lOd, and to secured £I2BO 19s 9d. The estimated value of the securities was given as £1125, leavipg a deficiency of £155 19s 9d, and a total deficiency of £3754 11s 7d, there being no assets. The principal unsecured creditors were: Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd., £2687 4s; N.Z. Farmers’ Co-op. Assn., Ltd., £300; J. A. Flesher, £SO: Dr Aclatid, Christchurch, £47 ss: P. and D. Duncan, Ltd., £B9 16s 9d; James P. Hayward, Woodgrove, £53 14s 2d; H. Barnett. Medbury. £3l 2s; T. W. Herron, Waikari, £2l 11s Id; Chas. Philpott and Co., Ilawarden, £2l 16s 8d; Mockett’s Motors, Ltd., Culverden, £l9 14s; Receiver of Land Revenue, Christchurch, £lB 16s 4d; A. S. Patterson and Co., Ltd., Christchurch, £l3 9s 9d; Miss M. Herron, Terauka, £2l 12s: G. W. Jackson, Hawarden, £l9 7s 6d; North Canterbury Hospital Board, £l2 13c; F. Keppler, Waikari, £l4 16s 24d; N.Z. Automobiles, Ltd., Christchurch, £lB 16s 6d; Estate of F. J. Horrell, £lO 5s 3d; W. Strange and Co., Ltd., £l9 18s 6d; S. Tborley, Hawarden, £l4 7s 6d: E. D. Doak, Hawarden, £l3; C. J. Campbell’s estat*, £l2 12s. The secured creditors were: C. S. Brooker. £790, J. A. Flesher, Christchurch, £454 4s 3d; A. J. White, Ltd., £36 15s 6d.

Bankrupt’s Statement. Bankrupt, in the course of his sworn statement, said that he started farming in October, 1920, on a farm of 282 acres. The place cost £11,225. lie put in £4500 and borrowed £6OOO on first mortgage. Pyne. Gould, Guinness, Ltd., took a second security for the balance and the stock and plant. He stocked up when sheep were dear, and when the slump came he lost heavilyHe sold the sheep four months later at half what he gave for them. Next season he put a good portion of the heavy land in wheat, which yielded fairly well, but, on getting his returns, he found out that he must have given too much for the land, as the returns were small. The following season the turnips, on which he was depending to fatten his sheep, were a failure, owing to dry weather. In order to save selling these sheep at a loss, be took a lease for a year from Mr C. S. Brooker of a 215-acre block, which had a lot of rough feed on it. The following year he got this block from the Government with a goodwill to Mr Brooker of £llsO. Mr Flesher financed him. In 1923 he had 1200 sacks of wheat, which sprouted badly, so that he could not sell it, except at a much reduced price. By this time his health, which had not been good after a serious operation in 1916, began to grow ■worse. In February, 1924, his stables and shed were burnt, along with a car worth £7O. The insurance on the building was small and he lost heavily. This season was a very, dry one, and his crops were practically a failure. In the spring of 1924 his health was getting worse and the work was getting behind on the place. Jn December, 1924, he was taken to hospital in a critical condition and operated upon. He was not able to return to the farm till the following April, when he was unable to do much work. The result was that the season was practically lost. Later, his health improved, and he thought that by hard work he would be able to pull through. In the autumn <>f 1926 he worked hard and got in 300 acres of green feed, with which he hoped to fatten a good few sheep, but when the feed was ready, Pyne, Gould. Guinness, Ltd., would not let him ha\ e more sheep, and later on sold the ewes he had. In 1927 he had 100 acres of wheat and oats, which did not thresh out well. His health was again bad, and, with a heavy wage bill, he was still no further ahead. Pyne, Gould, Guinness would not carry him on and sold what stock and plant were on the place. He and his wife went off the place in June, 1927, without any money. Since then he had been working and had made barely enough to live on and keep his wife and two children. lie attributed his failure to too land, loss on sheep, bad health, bad seasons, want of capital, and heavy expenses generally. Sum of £BSOO Lost. The Official Assignee said he gathered from what the bankrupt said that when he took the farm he had £4500 of his own and no debts. It would probably be found that the total amount owing to the creditors was not far short of £4OOO. so it meant that a sum of £SSOO had been lost. There was no very clear statement as to where the money had gone, but one could imagine a great deal, buying land at high prices and selling it at low prices, buying stock at high prices and selling it at low. The bankrupt had given some examples of bow losses were incurred. For instance, one block of land bought at £SO an acre was sold by the first mortgagee for £32, and another block bought for £23 an acre was sold for £lO Over 400 sheep were bought at 21s to 37s 2d a head. One truck was sold for 29s to 335, and the balance for 8s 9d to 17s 9d. The Official Assignee said he thought the bankrupt should supply a fuller state ment of bow the losses had b«**n m . curred. Where the deficiency was so large this was only fair to the creditors. In reply to a creditor, bankrupt said that the £4500 he put into the farm was his share from his father’s estate. There was no more due to him from the estate, which had been wound up. Asked why he had carried on so long in the face of the losses he was making, bankrupt said that until recently there was no chance of selling the farm, which was bought at too high a price in the boom period. 11 is ill-health was one of the main causes of his failure. Only two of the creditors were wage-earners. The Official Assignee; None of the creditors is preferential. A creditor: The position seems hopeless. In reply to a question, bankrupt said that he could not promise to pay his creditors even a small dividend. The meeting adjourned without any motion being passed.