DISTRICT COURT,

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 528, 5 June 1869, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT.

In Bankkuktcy, • Friday-, June 4, (Before H. Kenrick, Esq.) A sitting of this Court was held at 2 p.m. for the examination of William Gledhill, a bankrupt, with respect to the whereabouts of some of his property. Mr Perkins appeared for the trustee, and Mr Guinness for the bankrupt. Wm. Gledhill : Ido not know the date upon which I was adjudicated a bankrupt. I believe the trustee took possession, but I am not aware what he took possession of. I remember filing my declaration of inability to meet my engagements. I swear that between that time and the trustee, taking possession I did not remove any of my property off' the premises. On or about the Bth April I purchased a box of 201bs of tobacco from W. J. Coates. The date of my declaration is 21st April, I also purchased a box of 251bs of tobacco from Mr Harling, about the Bth April ; also a box from Mr Hunter a, few days before. I swear I do not know what became of that tobacco. Some of it was sold in the shop. I could not tell whether there was any in the shop when the trustee took possession. I did not send any away by anybody or by the trajmway. I had some packed up before the 21st April, but the. last I saw of it was in the store. I sold none to Mr Cook or Mrs M'Farland. A good many things went out of the store, but not with my consent. I missed them since Christmas, but I had no hand in removing them myself. I purchased section 95 in Arney street for Mrs Taylor. It never was mine ; the only interest I had in it was by occupying and clearing it. I gave it up when the first rates were payable in January last. I was taking care of the property for the owner, and received the rents, which have not been claimed from me. A day or two before 1 ! filed my declaration of insolvency I pur- 1 chased 50 doz. of eggs from Mr Woolcock ; but I do not recollect having promised to pay for them in cash within an hoir. I never had a. talk with Cook about selling him some of my property. By the Bench : My cash-book is produced, but all my transactions are not entered in it. There are entries; in the book for every day from the Ist to the 2lst April, exept on Sundays ; but there is no entry of the sale of any portion of the tobacco I purchased on the Bth April. I kept no other book but this. I will not swear that I did or did not sell some of the tobacco between these dates. I intended to pay for the eggs by the re-sale of them. I sold 20 doz. of them to Sweeney's Hotel, but there is no entry of that sale in my books or- in my sworn schedule of assets. That debt is still owing to me. I sold them the, day I bought them, or the day after. There is an entry among my money payments of L3O for a bill due to De Cosia and Co. I did not pay that amount. There is also an entry of LSO 5s paid on a bill to D. M'Ewan and Co., but I received it back some time in February. There is ne entry in my book to that effect. I suppose I paid it away, but there is no entry to that effect. lam indebted to Mr Cook. By the entry in my ledger he appears to have been indebted to me on the 31st March Ll3 8s 6d. That, amount has been paid in cash. There is no entry to that effect in my hooks, and I cannot tell when he paid it. Cook paid it himself. lam due Cook L 2 5s for rents received since he paid me the balance. My sworn accounts of moneys paid away are wrong by L 8 0; instead of L 330, it ought to be L 250. Alexander j King is indebted to me in L3O for cash lent him and cash paid on his account for goods. There is no mention made of that sum either in my books or sworn declaration. Between tlie tiling of my declaration ou the 21st and the 30fch April, when the trustee took possession, I sold goods out of the store for cash, and used the money. By Mr Guinness : The debt of Alex. King was contracted about a year ago, before I commenced business in Greymouth. That is the reason why I did hotput the debt in my schedule. lam not proficient in bookkeeping. I was storekeeping and hawking, and had often to leave a man in the store. Since he left me he has done no work. I only put down in my books goods sold on credit. By the Bench : I did not mention that debt of L3O to my solicitor when drawing up my schedule. Charles Harling : I am a tobacconist in Greymouth. On the 9th April Gledhill got 201bs of tobacco from me. By Mr Guinness : He got it on credit, without making any statements, in the ordinary course of business. Richard Senior : I entered on the defendant's employ on 17th March as storeman, and remained with him twenty-nine days. I remember 241bs of tobacco coming in from Mr Coates about a week before I left. Other two boxes, and also a parcel of tobacco came in about the same time. I brought one of these boxes from Mr Hunter's shop. Ido not know what became of it. I last saw it the day before I left the store, about the 14th or 15th of April. On one of these days he and I broke up Coates' tobacco, and put it into a box along with the tobacco that came in a paper, and some loose that he had used at the race-course. It was left standing on the counter, and it was in the store up to the day before I left. I was sent a message up town, and on my return I missed two cases of brandy and some sugar. I remarked to him about it, and he said, " It's all right, Dick." The tobacco was then on the counter ; I did not miss it before I left ; I sold a fig of it the day before I left. When I left the place 1 am sure that another of the cases- of tobacco was there. Ido not know of the other having been sold. We only sold about a fig of tobacco a week while I was there. A day or two before I left I saw the defendant take a quarter-chest of tea out on his shoulder, but I do not know where to. No order had come in for it. The day I was sent out the message Mr Cook was in the store. He took up a fig of the tobacco, broke, and smelt it, saying it was not very good. Gledhill said, ' ' It will do very well for up-country." A bag of sugar came in from Mr Coates, and I packed it in three bags to be handy for carriage. Mr Cook afterwards acknowledged to me that he received these three bags. Frederick Cook was called, but positively refused to give his evidence until he was paid. The Court guaranteed pay-' ment, and threatened him with imprisonment if he did not accept that assurance. Nothing but the cash' would satisfy him, and the difficulty was got over by Mr

Perkins handing him a half-sovereign. He said : I know Wm. Gledhill, and remember being in .his store during April, and looking at some tobacco, whichi was offered to me. I did not buy anyV thing from Gledhill that day, but bought some potatoes, onions, and bacon from him a fortnight before, I produce the receipt, which I settled on the 7th April. I never received or boxight any goods from him after that date. \ received no sugar from him. I swear Ido not know where any of his goods have gone, or of their present whereabouts. Gledhill did not tell me. I recollect Senior being sent out a message, and I will swear no goods were removed out of the sjfcore while I was. there. By the Bench : I think a week or a fortnight before the 7th April I paid Gledhill a sum of about Ll3, but I have paid him nothing since that date. He is at present indebted to me L 2 5s for the agency of my house. Wm. Gledhill, recalled, examined by the Bench : I do not know what became, of the tobacco. The two cases of brandy were not removed while Senior was. out a, message. I know they were opened in the. store. The Court adjourned sine die.