MEETING OF CREDITORS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 507, 14 May 1909, Page 2

MEETING OF CREDITORS.

ESTATE OF W. B. CIESEH. PROPOSAL TO ANNUL BANKRUPTCY. ■A "paper" surplus of £7281 7s. was claimed by William B. Giescn; eottlor, of Wellington and Feilding, who faced a meeting of his creditors yesterday. It was it • ■small and mainly sympathetic meeting. Tho Official Assignee (Sir. A. Simpson) presided. ' Mr. M'Urath appeared for the bankrupt, and there were also present, Mr!, L'evvey \ (representing tlio D.1.0.1j Mr. Neave (Na- . tional Mutual Life Association), Mr. Raado ' (for Mr. 0. E. Austin, Foxton), Mr. Luke' (for Messrs .Young oiid Tripe), Sir. -G,. lon* , bert, and Mr. W. MeJhuisn. The Bankrupt's. Statomon!. The bankrupt, in his written statement, said: "To the best of my knowledge and belief, my assets show a surplus over my liabilities of £7281 7s. My.ostato is a per-. fectly solvent one, and if given time, I could. have realised it and easily paid • tho whole, of my creditors .in full. - Sly bankruptcy ~ is duo to the depression-and. tightness of: ' money, in. the Dominion, and to. my inability • •to speedily realise , my estate, also .to a loss of over £2000, which I liad in connection with tho sbcond mortgage over the Palace Hotel iii the city, of Wellington. This amount was scoured to me' by second mortgage, but through tho 'first mortgagee exor- . cismg his power of sale, .my' mortgage was lost." : ■ . ■ ,'' . . ■ The. statement of accounts showed on tho debit side unsecured creditors £2492 135., ■secured creditors' £12,538, less ' estimated'-: 1 value cf. .securities,. £19,613',- total debts •••• £2492 13s. - On the fcrcdit side wore book ! debts £2670 I.ls. 4d., estimated to produce £2500, property" £200,. surplus 'from secfuri- . ties in hands, of secured creditors £7074, total assets Ejirplus £7281 '75.. < The principal unsecured creditors Ttero" as follow:—T.., Allison,, solicitor, , Wanganni, £36; O. E. Austin, flaxmiller, Foxton, £370: J. Boveridgo, hotclkcDpor, Wellington, £20 10s.; Commissioner of Taxes,- Wellington,. £315; Graham and Lambert, land agents, Wellington, £25; Martin J. P, Goro, agent, Wanganui, £187; W.. A. Kwiller, farmqr, . Bulls,.£100; Now Zealand Motor Company, Feilding, £43; W. Melhuish, farmer.-WcV - > lington, £62; W. .M'Lean, agent, Wellington,- £32j'Skeates and Bockeart, engineers", Auckland, £148; D. M. Wright,' printer, ' s Wellington, £32; Young and Tripe, Bolicitors, Wellington, £97 14s. 4d.; Mrs. E. 0. Giesen, Feilding, £350. Filed to Avoid Caol. " ..' I Mr. M'Grath stated that amongst tha •bankrupt's assets was an unencumbered , mortgage from Messrs.' Blundell Bros., t of Feilding, for £200; which would realise lta full value. This left a balance in bis fav. . our of £197 7s. Id., .apart altogether - from what ho alleged was tho margin over securi-' tie* whan the secu'cd creditors were paid. Tho filing , of his petition was not by; tho bankrupt's own desire. Ho had been forced .- by a creditor {not represented at the meeting) who had a judgment against liim for .-some'£lß. on which fie had obtained'a com- - : mittal order, so that the bankrupt bad citlior • to file his petition or to spend fourtten days . in tbß , Terrace Gaol. Had tdio ■: bankrupt been "given a reasonable time ho would have called his creditors together, and, if necessary, assigned his estate for tlieir benefit. It was great hardship that- he had been forced to 'seek this v means ; of . urotcc--tion against so small a creditor, and! bring , himself and the wliolo of his affairs before the public. ' Had it not been ,for the misfortune of losing recently a second mortgage of £2000, which he held over the Palaco ~ Hotel, Wellington, tho bankrupt wculd now ■ have had sufficient cash to pay off his un- vsecured creditors in full. It was, moreover, less than twelve nionths since the bankrupt • - had paid £1000 to Mr. G. Lambert, in-roduc- . v tion of'the principle duo on a mortgage over a property', at Mnrton, ■ which was . . sold by the bankrupt >to Mr. * Muir. It was a;'-condition in'- Mr. Giesen's . > mortgage to Mr. Lambert that in the event ■ of tho property being ; sold the mortgage should be reduced by £1500, but the bankrupt found £1000 in cash, and. tlio -mort-. gageo consented to tllo: sale. This sum of £1000 was held iu .i'rust by .Mr.. .Lambert. for the bankrupt, and, was to be repaid . to the bankrupt as soon as the mortgage on : the property for.(!£3Soo was ; paid off. >De-: fault was made on this mortgage, and tho. mortgagee was obliged to exorcise his power of sale and sell for tho balance due to him less this sum of £1000, which for the pro- : sent at least was lost to the bankrupt. A' great ■ part of this money was obtained on, 1 a security which was held by "-the bankrupt's r wife, who . was the largest unsecured creditor, and next to the bankrupt suffered most by theso proceedings. If ( tho ; bank.rupt's expectations were anything like realised there, would bo a big surpluskft when all the creditors were paid in full. Acom- ■ plete statement showing tlie .whole . of- the panKrupt's transactions ior a nuniDoi; on . years, 'together-with a .Tory -well-kept - apt. of books, bad been" handed in to tho Official Assignee, whicH showed exactly tho position. The bankrupt placed himself entirely in his creditors' hands, but ho thought that if the estatewas hastily realist by ,tho Offi- ,/ cial Assignee there wpuld boa big loss in tfto present state of the-money . market. If, however, the estate was assigned to trustees : for tho benefit of' creditors and the bankruptcy proceedings : were annulled-by tho 'Court tho estate .would realise well, and tho, creditors would the benefit. Theio , were two interests which it would not bo'any . use for the trustees to,take over at preedit, namely, ,an interest in a farm at Waikato, and an interest ,in ,a property at 1 Aorangi (Feilding). Mr. M'Grath suggested, that the creditors might hand back thoso properties to tho- bankrupt's: wife, if slio - would not prove in the estate for her claim. The bankrupt would .give every possible as- , sistanco in realising tho.estate. Official Assjgnoa's Views. The OfficiarAssignee agreed that the case was really , not a. proper ono for bankruptcy. It would bo a pity to realise the- estateiin tlio preseht state of tho money market. Tho books submitted-were the best that ho had,. Mr. Levvey said that Mt. Lambert had v obtainod! a judgment summons against tlio bankrupt, who had promised to pay by instalments, but had not . done so. . Mr. Lambert had not personally received tho sum of £1000 mentioned. About a Racehorse. Mr. Reado asked the debtor if ho was at tho Foxton races on January 22, andif he... 1 had an interost in a horse named .Maidi, which won a raco on that day. . .. : Tho debtor replied that ho was leasing tha horse at the rate of 15 por cent. <n all winnings, debtor to pay all expenses, ills not result from the racp was £53. The horso. ran at Foxton under tlio namo.of W. J>. uiO" sen, and subsequently ran under tho namo of Gieson and Shannon. .i . Mr. Reade wanted to know why a valuable horse was transferred to bankrupt a ■ Tlio debtor explained that ho merely had a lease of tho horse. Shannon had made him a present of the horso, but iwhen it subsfr* , , won two races ho was sorry ho had ■done bo, and asked if ho could have a-joint interest in her. Shannon being his-friend, , debtor, agreed to this on consitTeration.that Shannon gave debtor's wife a "half share in : - the freehold property of tlio maro"—(laugjhter)—which ho'aid. Shannon and Mrs. Gieson tiion-registered a joint partnership in tho - mare. ■ ■ Final Resolution. 1 < After further/discussion, Mr. Lambort moved''That tlio meeting bo adjourned till . the 19th instant, at 11 a.m., with a vioVr to vesting tlio ostato in tlie hands of trustees to administer for the benefit of the creditors, .and handing back-to tlio bankrupt any in-' West ho may bavo in tho Waikato or Aorangi property, and with h further view ta tho nccessary steps being taken to annul the bsnkiuptcy, 1 Mr. Luko seconded tho amended motion* . which was adopted, unanimously.