IN BANKRUPTCY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1033, 22 August 1911, Page 3

IN BANKRUPTCY.

ESTATE OF JAMES ARMSTRONG.

MEETING OF creditors

A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of James Armstrong, of Foxton, labourer, was held before Mr G. J. Scott, Deputy Official Assignee, in the Courthouse, Foxton, yesterday ingThe following creditors were present: —Messrs A. R. Osborne, J. Newth, C. T. Easton, P. Wollerman, R. N. Speirs, M. E. Perteau, and E. J. Spelman, representing the West Coast Steamship and Trading Company. The bankrupt’s statement showed unsecured creditors ns 3d, and secured creditors ,£423 xos gd. The securities were valued bv the bankrupt at thus leaving a credit balance of 9s 3d, The securities were section of land with dwelliug erected thereon, valued by bankrupt at On this the State Guaranteed Advances Office held a mortgage for and Mr J. G. Speirs a second mortgage of /126 7s 9 d. There was also a section on the corner of Johnson and Cook streets, valued at ,£SO, 011 which Mr R. Moore held a mortgage of 3s. According to bankrupt’s estimates there was a deficiency in the estate of ,£46 2s. The Assignee said he had written to the Superintendent of the State Guaranteed Advances Office on the subject, and he had received a reply to the effect that the amount of their mortgage was £ 2 53 12s 9 d. . t , „ The bankrupt put in the following statement: — “ Mv present difficulties have been caused mainly by an injury to my finger. Two or three years ago I bought a section in Foxton, and about a year ago I obtained an advance from the Advances to Workers Department, and built a house on the section, the builder accepting a second mortgage for the balance of his money, as the Government advance was not enough to pay him in full. I was at this time etui Ij/ed by Messrs Coley Bros, as sinpper-keeper, and was getting on well enough, when I met with an accident by getting my finger crushed in the feeder. It was a very long time before I could properly attend to my work. My employers allowed me partial wages for a time, but later on I could not do the work, and had to leave just about the time the mill closed down. I was then unable to get work. My former employment was lost, as the injury to my finger prevented me from doing the work properly. I was out of employment for a long time, and then got odd jobs here and there, but could not earn much, as I could not do a proper day’s work. To endeavour to earn a living, my wife began to take in boarders, but I occasionally lost over them, and I found it did not pay. Through being out of work, unable to take payable work when it was obtainable, and the expense of keeping the boardinghouse going when it did not pay very well, I began to get into debt. One of my principal creditors is Easton and Co., and finally they issued a distress warrant, and put the bailiff in possession of my house. I then concluded there was nothing to be done but file, so that all my creditors should receive equal treatment, and to enable whatever proceeds may be realised from the furniture and property to be divided amongst them pro rata. At present I can make no offer whatever to my creditors. I have nothing whatever ’ except the furniture and the freehold property mentioned in my schedules, and the latter is mortgaged to its lull mortgaging value. However, my intention is to pay all my credirors in full later on if I can possibly get together sufficient money to do it. In the meantime I find it all I can do to support my wife and family by. such daily labour as I can take up, owing to my now reduced earning powers.” In reply to questions by creditors, the bankrupt said that the boardinghouse belonged to him, and that his wife had no interest in it. He did not keep any books. At the present time there were five or six boarders in the house. The accident referred to In his statement occurred on the 19th of October, 1910, and he was discharged from that employment on November 19th. From the time of the accident until he was discharged he received 10s per day. Previous to that he was paid at the rate of 15s per day wheu he worked. He said that Eastou s account had been running tor about three years. He had paid as much as he possibly could. He owed C. H. Collins something over ,£SO for groceries- The account had been running for about three years. He did not put it on the list because the creditor had stated he did not wish it to go on. The account had not been guaranteed by anyone. He had made no promise to pay it. He also owed G. T. Woodroofe about £,‘S. In order to file he Lad borrowed £6 from Mr Chrystall, which he promised to repay whenever he was able to do so. An account for milk of about £2 had been paid to Carter, Jensen and Bak siuce he filed his schedule. His furniture was insured in the State Office lor ,£IOO. The first policy for was taken out about three years ago, and about November of last year, in consequence of having purchased additional furniture, he asked the agent to increase the amount of insurance. The agent inspected the furniture, and gave him cover for an additional ,4,25. Could not explain vyhy there should be such a difference in his valuation of the furniture and the

amount of the insurance. He asked the agent to insure it for as much as he could, and left the valuation to the agent. As far as he knew nothing had been shifted from the house since he filed. He denied that certain clothing had been purchased by his wife to go to race meetings.

The assignee said he was not satisfied with the bankrupt’s statement. In similar cases he had recommended pubb’c examinations, but in the present case he did not think it would do any good, as there appeared no chance of the creditors getting anything, aud it would be adding more expense. After some further discussion, it was decided to adjourn the meeting until the afternoon, in order that Mrs Armstrong might be in attendance.

lu the afternoon Mrs Armstrong attended, and receipts were submitted for various amounts paid. There was a long discussion. Mrs Armstrong denied absolutely that either she or her husband spent any money on the totalisator.

The Assignee said the case was a most unsatisfactory one.

The meeting terminated without passing any resolution.