BANKRUPTCY.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 172, 1 August 1901, Page 4

BANKRUPTCY.

Tub statement of George Searle, carpenter, bankrupt, shows the total of unsecured debts to be .£77 ss, the creditors being J. Whinray £23, Kennedy and Evans .£ls, F. Hall .£9 10s, O. Ji. Hubble, .£i> los, Arthur Searle £2, James Searlo (Wellington) X'ls, W. Hanuer, bricklayer (Wellington) £3, E. J. C-hrisp X 6. A secured debt to Frederick Searle, tailor (Wellington), amounts to XGS, the estimated value of the security being £7O, leaving .£lO surplus for the unsecured creditors, in addition to that the furniture is sot down at Xl'2o, the total assets thus being XoO. The following is the statement of the debtor, whose solicitor is Mr E. J. Chrisp : “ The immediate cause of my filing was pressure from one of my creditors. Ho obtained judgment against me in the Magistrate’s Court, and put the bailiff in the house. Only part of the furniture belonged to mo. I tried to compromise with the creditor, and offered him in cash <£lo, but ho would not agree, so, as I could not raise the amount required cither my furniture had to bo sold, or I had to file. The fact of my being sued in the Court caused other creditors to press me for payment, and although I believe I could have paid all I owed if given time, 1 was not able to do so under pressure. I am hopeful of paying all I owe if given enough time, and if my creditors, who arc few in number and not large in amount, will wait not longer than twelve months at the outside, they will be paid in full.”

If Protestants as a body were as earnest and enthusiastic as Homan Catholics there would be nothing to fear from the political inilucnce of the latter. —Waimate Advertiser. Our boasted jury system has not turned out a brilliant success, because juries are afraid to convict lest Judge Jeffries gets a chance of gratifying his ferocity.—Waihi Daily Telegraph. In our opinion the farmers are identifying themselves with an institution of which they know nothing, excepting that at present its platform is opposed to the policy of the Government.—Masterton Star. The referendum Bill is the most Democratic measure that has ever come before the Parliament of New Zealand, and anyone who opposes the measure is a genuine Conservative, and an opponent of progress, whatever his pretensions may bo.—Carterton Times.

So far as one can judge, tho Shops and Offices Bill proposes to add one hour a day to tho present working hours, in order to provide the clerks with a half-holiday which they now universally obtain. This is amelioration with a vengeance ! —Nelson Mail.

In Parliament there is little room for herioes, few chances for passionate invective, but ample room for level-headed, dispassionate, average ability. This latter we have. It is the human obstinacy and wrong-hoaded-ness of MFSeddon that are most to be feared. —Queenstown Mail.

The Registrar under the Vaccination Act at the Thames 1 fell in ’ very badly the other day. He proved in Court that a Waihi man had not had his child vaccinated within the prescribed time; and the Waihi man, in reply, proved that the child was dead months before it ought to have been vaccinated.

A contemporary states that the (government are already bowing to the {’armors’ Union. Last week, at a meeting at Feilding, the secretary slid that’ ‘ Lands’ had agreed to allow settlers in the back-blocks free occupation for three years, and advance copies of all Bills affecting their interests.

It is true that New Zealand is a land without strikes, but it has in proportion to its population hundreds of times more labor disputes than any other country. And yet we take for granted that our experiment has been a success!—Dunedin Star.

The proposal to seize the business of the existing tire insurance companies is dishonest and wholly indefensible. It is well known that the little all of many widows and orphans and other people of slender resources is invested in insurance shares. To destroy the value of their small capital, or to interfere with their paltry incomes, would be a wanton act of spoliation that the moderate-minded section of the people would not tolerate.— Observer.

Our legislators will be wise if they observe the signs of the times, and note that the workers are at last awaking to the fact that it is possible to have too much “beneficent ’ legislation of the kind formulated by the genus agitator and fathered by the reigning Ministry.—Wanganui Chronicle.

The New Zealand Farmers’ Union is composed chiefly of small fanners, and is not rising from tile ashes of the defunct National Ass, as certain politicians would make believe. Therefore, any and every project calculated to promote the interests of “the backbone of the colony ” should meet with the support of all fair-minded men and women.—Taranaki Record.

If a man solicits a joli in a jam factory, bootshop, or newspaper office bis proposal is accepted or declined with measured gravity, or it is gravely postponed for consideration. But if he presents himself for a Parliamentary seat he must let himself out as a butt for all and sundry. Even youths have the right of knocking his hat off, and malodorous individuals may pelt him with bad eggs.—Melbourne Punch. We are gradually approaching towards the methods of American politics. The candidate for Parliament must submit himself to be pelted With eggs on the public platform, or to be boo-hooed and cat-called for half-nn-hour at a stretch while he makes frantic en deavoifl'S to raise his voice above the din, and he must be content to hear iiis most sacred family affairs picked to pieces in tram and ’bus and at t=very street corner. And, granted that he wins his seat at great expense to his feelings and cost to his pocket, and thst he serves his constituents faithfully and well, he must needs be satisfied to finish his labours without a word of thanks, even if he does not retire with a thoroughly blasted and blackened reputation.—Observer.