DISTRICT COURT.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 850, 18 April 1871, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT.

Monday, April J7. : ' (Before His Honor Judge Ward.) IN BANKRUPXqy. , .'. .. Re Cook and Owens.— Mr Guinness applied to have Mr Kenrick appointed Trustee, by the request of the creditors. Order made. Re James Jones.— Mr Guinness applied that the costo of the investing order and enforcing the same be allowed but SI the estate. Order made. JL Re George Bell.— Application for final order of discharge. Mr Perkins appeared on behalf of Mr James Hamilton^ of Rutherglenj to opposes his discharge: This case was adjourned for the production of the bankrupt's books;' He said the books had been sent- to a friend to be delivered to Mr Kenrick, but that gentleman stated that they had -not been~received, at least that no bc-jOks showing any transactions during the last two years. In examination, the bankrupt said that he had a contract with the Government to pnt up a building in, Marsden. Hb^odtained the paper, scrim, &c, from Hamilton, on the understanding th?at he iw6tild be paid out of the contract money. Instead of paying the debt heiised the money to file his schedule. He inserted a new asset in the schedule of LII against Hamilton for work done, but he admitted that while he was doing this work he was obtaining his provisions from Hamilton's store. Bankrupt explained that he was charged with his board during that time. The Judge said that without.. referring at length to the circumstances 'the credit was obtained , from Hamilton fraudulently, and without any intention of paying the amount. The discharge would be suspended for four months, and protection taken away. ..An, order r wjis afterwards granted for a warrant to ibsne against the person of the bankrupt. * * Re Joseph GRAHAM.r-rThe trustee had been unable to Taring up a report, and the case was adjourned to the next sitting. Re Cook and Owens.— An application for .final order of discharge. Mr Newton appeared for the bahk£uptp'*afia.' tnf Mr Guinness to oppose, on;.behal£ , of 1 White and Garth, creditors. George Cook was called, and in reply to ; Mr ' Guinness, said : He knew Mr WilMe, the first truktee in the estate, for about nine months. He did not make up our .books. Wilkie had nothing to do with the books before he was appointed trustee. The ' boots were given to Wilkie ; he prepared my statement of accounts. The ; books were never in Mr Hamilton's possession. AH the cash he had on hand when? ths accounts were made up was 18s ld.xJEJe had not compared the statement with his books. On the 25th October, 1870, they gave a bill of sale to John Hamilton. They owed him about Ll4O. They then owed White and Garth L 6 5125 ,! also L 5 on account,-^md-GaEter^uichflr at Ahaura, L 5 4165. The bill of salewas payable-to HamUibh H< dii'demanff^imd on the morning they were~sutnmotted bjf "White and Garth, the! money w&/4§. manded. They gould not. pay> ?aad Hamilton took pOßsesaiom ■■■ Tfie J pW>p'6rty consisted of a house and garden and three, horses. The stock-in-trade was not re? moved from the store the, clay White obtained judgment. His stock was. worth about Life, when the judgment was obtained. If they had obtained time they could have met all their liabilities, because there was a crop in the garden that would have realised abjmi 1*200.; r No one was pushing them when the bill of sale was given to Hamilton. White never . offered to give the bankrupt any tmffe to pay, and refused to take back the goods, By Mr Newton : An offer of 10s in the pound was made to the creditors and lafused; When the store was taken'possession of the bankrupts' papers were scattered about and some lost, and the statement had to be made up^gartly frok memory, A sum of L 24 was omitted, which was borrowed a few days, before the schedule was filed. Edward Ovens was called and the statement of aiccountsj^i

shown him, when he said he never saw 4hese papers before, and did not sign WShn. He signed the bill of sale to John Hamilton ; he was forced to do it, otherwise they could get no more goods. They did get more goods from Hamilton after that, but the witness could not tell why Hamilton was not entered in the statement as a creditor for the unsecured portion of the debt." He sometimes paid Hamilton cash as he got it. James Wilkie : I was lately acting as trustee in this estate. I was . appointed against my will. Before being appointed I made up a balance-sheet for the bankrupts. I have not got the books ; I think 1 left them in a hotel in town. I examined the books ; they were very badly kept. I think there were three books, one quite new. Mr Guinness asked that the case be adjourned so as to allow the newly-appointed trustee to go through the books with the bankrupts, and draw up an amended statement. The Judge granted the adjournment, and ordered Owens to bring up a statement of accounts. A rule nisi was also made for the trustee to call upon J. Hamilton to show cause why the goods and chattels named in the bill of sale, and in the possession of the bankrupts on filing their declaration, should not be handed over to the trustee. Re Harriet Morris. — Mr Guinness applied for a final order of discharge. Mr Perkins and Mr Newton appeared for creditors to oppose. Mr Kenrick, the trustee, leported that an amended statement had been filed that morning by the bankrupt showing the cash received during the preceding year to be L 896 15s instead of L 967 16s, as in the first statement, and the expenditure to be L 996 ss, instead of L 966 2s. The in-

creased receipts were made up by altering the 32 weeks' dividend received from a mining claim on the South Beach from L3 los to L 5 per week, and by inserting two items of cash received, one of Lll, the other of L 5, no previous mention having been made of either item, and the increased expenditure by altering an item of cash paid, from from. L3B to Ll9, and by adding the sum of L 47 5a as paid for wages in the claim and the sum of LI 17s for sundries. The bankrupt, when examined by the trustee, stated that she had never received any money from this claim. The examination of the bankrupt was conducted at considerable length as to a quantity of drapery and other goods which were obtained in December last from Messrs Skoglund and Purcell, Manson and Co., T. Joyce, and W. J. Ooates, within a few days before filing her schedule. The drapery alone amounted to over L7O, which Bhe accounted for by saying that her husband had wilfully destroyed a large quantity of her clothing. Evidence was also given as to the sale of the bankrupt's hotel on Richmond Quay, and the obstructions which were thrown in the way of the creditors when they enforced their executions. Most of the facts which came out in evidence were disclosed and made public on the occasion of the last examination of witnesses. Mr Perkins addressed the Court, urging several grounds upon which the bankrupt's certificate should be suspended, and Mr Guinness replied. The Judge said the large debts incurred in December for drapery, supposed to have be done without the bankrupt having any reasonable expectation of paying them, especially as she had at the time disposed of nearly all her property. On that ground the certificate would be suspended for four months, but protection would be continued in the meantime. He would say, however, that the grave suspicions which were first entertained when this case came before the Court had not been proved, and he had to deal with the case as it now stood. But, if the creditors could prove any of the circumstances referred to, the bankrupt could be again arrested. An order was made for the costs of the vesting order, and the preliminary examination of witnesses to be paid out of the estate. Re Samuel Samuals. —It was explained in this case, that a witness, Louis Davis, whose filed statement of accounts was not satisfactory, was not present although he had been instructed to attend. The* clerk was ordered to give notice to the witness to attend the next sitting of the Court to explain the accounts, otherwise a warrant would be issued for his arrest. Re James Byrne.— An order was made for a special meeting of creditors for the purpose of considering a proposal to take this estate out of bankruptcy. Re John Holdridge and Robert Ciottgh. — This was an application for a meeting order, which was granted, and the next Court day was appointed the day for the first examination of witnesses. Tae Court adjourned to the 25th inst.