A Huge Insolvency.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 69, 18 September 1895, Page 3

A Huge Insolvency.

Judge Molesworth has created some seosatfon in Melbourne by refusing Mr C. B Fisher his certificate of discharge in the Insolvency Court. Tbe story of Mr Fisher's transactions ib apt to make one s mouth water after tbe fingering of the thousands that seem to have been so plentiful wiita him. Mr Fisher began squatting in Australia in 1837, when he took up Little Para, 40 miles from Adelaide, putting en £1500 worth of stock. His next venture, in 1854, was the purchase of Bundaleer, S. A., for £81,000 He spent £80,000 m converting the leasehold into freehold. In 1855 he bought , HiH River at a cost of £42,000, p ai d £90,000 for the freehold, £30,000 for fencing, etc. His Queensland purchases on the Condamine and Darling Downs began in 1868 with six figures, and soon ran up to a quarter of a million. Another big purchase was the Noondoo, Yerambah, and Dariel stations in New South Wales and Queensland, with 100,000 sheep and 20,---000 cattle, for £216,500, bis partners in this transaction being Jo-'eph Clarke and K. Power. He attributes h-.s failure to the guarantees he bad to give (and fulfil) on behalf of Sir John Morpheit :1m brother iu-law), Me E de Mestre, Hurtle Fisher, Hill, Bochford Bros., etc. When he gave the guarantees he was worth half a million sterling. The Queensland properties nave since fallen greatly in value. In 1885 they were wonh £835,000, and in 1895 £551,520. He became a customer of the English and Scottish Bank m 1860, a»a sine© 1882 has paid it M9l,Ss>o in interest and discounts. The liabilities in the estate amounted to £1,477,915, and the assets to £786,260, leaving a deficiency of £691,655. The estate wonld not pay 7s in tbe £, the statutory minimum, hence the application for the certificate. Jud"e Molesworth held that Mr Fisher had been guilty of reckless speculation, and that he should have filed his insolvency long before he did. He requires further particulars before granting the certificate. _ __