DISTRICT COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 37, 12 February 1880, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT.

[Before His Honor Judge Buoad.] After some discussion as to the power of the Court to deal with probate matters after the tinkering with the District Courts Act of last session, probate was granted, on the application of Mr Acton Adams, of the will of James Gledhill, late of Waimea West, In Bankruptcy. Be Geoege Sayees. Mr Percy Adani3 applied for the discharge of the bankrupt. Mr Bunny opposed. The witness, examined by Mr Adams said: Directly after my declaration of bankv ruptcy I came to you to ask if I could have part of this the cheque I had received for £16. 1 made no attempt to conceal the fact that I had the cheque. I had no money to buy anything to eat, and was absolutely in want. I was quite ia ignorance of the proper proceedings. Cross-examined : My solicitor told me I bad to make a declaration of my possessions. The cheque did not arrive until a fortnight after I had filed. I knew it was due to me at the time of my bankruptcy. It was from sheer ignorance that I did not include the cheque in my assets. I do not remember whether the Trustee knew of the existence of the cheque before I told him. I was not out of employment for more than a week. I have a house at Foxhill, and a housekeeper to whom I pay ten shillings a week. His Honor: Was she starving too? Witness: She might have been a little close pinched. Cross-examination continued: I don't remember what week it was that I was out of work. I have been in regular receipt of £16 per month. My liabilities are .£SB, Jand my assets, exclusive of the cheque for £16, are set down as £42. I don't know where the furniture that appears among my assets is. My wife and daughter, Mrs George, ran away with it last March. The furniture in my house at Foxhill belongs to Mrs Wise, my housekeeper. I paid £3 to James for furniture for Mrs Wise. I did not file in order to get out of paying towards the support of my wife, but because I did not see bow I was to pay the order made against me. I was hard pressed for money because I had paid such, a lot for ball dresses and satin shoes for Mrs George. I haven't paid Mrs Wise all I owe her. Re examined : If I had any fraudulent intention of concealing the existence of the cheque for £16, I should not have gone to Mr Scaife for a portion of the amount. I could not have realised on my furniture, because I did not know where it was. His Honor : It seems rather a singular arrangement of yours about the establishment at Foxhill. You rent the cottage, and hire Mrs. Wise as housekeeper at 10s a week, and she finds the furniture. Is that it ? i Witness : Yes. I made an offer to Messrs Fell and Atkinson to pay £l per week, but my wife insisted upon the whole being paid up. By Mr Bunny: The declaration of insol vency was signed at Adams and Kingdon's office before I came to Court on the morning the order was made against me. I pay for the groceries and eatables at the Foxhill establishment. This closed the evidence, and Mr Bunny then asked that the bankrupt might be dealt with under The Fraudulent Debtors' Act. Mr Percy Adams argued that there was no evidence of fradulent intention. His Honor said on the whole he was not satisfied that the debtor had been guilty of any offence under the Act of which there was a reasonable probability of his conviction. It was frequently made the occasion of public remark that facilities were offered by the Act to debtors to get rid of their liabilities, but the Courts felt a difficulty in interfering, when the creditors, to whom full powers were given, declined to take proceedings. Ifc might, however, occasionally oeoiir tkftt fym Yfm epes \msw w&M tlig

Court might act. This seemed to be one of those occasions, and to grant a discharge in this case would be to reduce the whole bankruptcy proceedings to an absolute farce, and he should therefore refuse the discharge absolutely, with cost 3. Civit, SIMttSOS. Acton Adams v. Edward Boyis. Action to recover the sum of £56 ss, being the value of certain sheep, over which plaintiff held a bill of sale from Edmiind Thomas, but which were subsequently sold by him to the defendant under the impression that his debt to Mr Adams had been paid. Mr Atkinson appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Pitt for the defendant. Edmund Walter Thomas : I executed the bill of sale produced. Personally, I have done nothing to pay off the amoiiht, but believe that it has been ( n^et by the sale, of my property by Mr Adam's,' who . held a mortgage over it, and sold it, as I believe, for more than the amount secured. I sold the sheep to the defendant. Mr Donald, the purchaser of the property, told me to remove the sheep. Cross examined by Mr Pitt : I was living at Marahau at the time 1 gave the bill of sale, over the sheep, which were in my possession up to the time that I sold them. Mr Adams held a mortgage over tbfe Mafahau property for £400. On the 31st December, 1879, he sent me in a bill for £654 7s. Interest was charged half yearly. Some months ago Mr Adams brought Mr Donald to me about the property. I asked him £800. 1 never gave Mr Adams authority to sell for less. I knew nothing about the sale until Mr Donald told me he had purchased it for, £700. I don't know when the money was due under the mortgage. Mr Adam 3 said he would not take possession, but would" try and sell. I saw him when he returned from Wellington, and he told me he had sold the the place to Donald for £700, but was not getting the money down, but £100 a year and interest. I told him I thought the place had been sacrificed. I never was consulted at all. There was no charge made for the costs of the sale. He told me the other day it would be some time" before I got the balance, as the money : was not yet paid to him. I removed the sheep because Donald told me to d 6 so;I had no pace to take them to and so I sold them to Boyes. s Mr Adams never said * word to me aboUt the sale till I told him. When Boyes came to him after getting the summons, I went to Mr Adams' office, and told him I bad felt perfectly justified in selling the sheep as he had sold the property and I thought he had paid himself out of it. He told me to bring Boyes in to. see him. He then told me he had heard that! said I would not make a transfer of the Maori sections. He has rendered me no account of the sale to Donald. Re-examined: Mr Adams told me he had acted as my agent. I did not think the £700 included the Maori leasehold. Mr Adams di;l not tell me so. By Mr Pitt: Mr Adams never made any application to me for the money for the sheep after he bad h«ard that I sold them. I was never consulted in any way about the sale of the property. J. S. Edelsten, auctioneer, of Motueka, stated that acting upon instructions received from Mr Adams, he went to Mr Boyes in December last, and told him he must not part with the sheep purchased from Mr Thomas, as Mr Adams held a mortgage over them. He replied that he had bought them foi 12s a head, and held a receipt for the money, and he knew nothing about the mortgage. > Percy B. Adams: In December last f entered into negotiations with Mr Donald for the sale of Marahau. I showed him the deeds. Subsequently I received a letter from Mr Donald, containing an offer of £700 for the property. Shortly after, Mr Thomas came in and asked if it was true we had sold Marahau. I said no, but we were negotiating for it. He said if it was going for £700 he would not give a transfer of the Maori lease. I replied that if he did not the whole transaction would fall through. Cross examined: I know nothing of the terms of the sale, which I did not complete. After Thomas told me he would not transfer the Maori lease, I went to Mr Mackay and asked him to cancel Thomas' lease for non-payment of rent, and then execute a new lease for Donald; I was acting either for my brother or Donald. [The case was not concluded when we went to press.J