FARMER OWES £ll,000

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 411, 20 July 1928, Page 16

FARMER OWES £ll,ooo

BEATEN BY 1920 SLUMP ASSIGNEE CRITICISES ACTIONS

When Alexander Dunlop McCardle met his creditors yesterday at the office of the official assignee, Mr. G. N. Morris, with a total indebtedness of £II,OOO, he alleged that the slump years of 1920-21 cost him £12,000 through the fall in value of his wool and stock.

Bankrupt’s statement showed that until 1913 he was farming in the King Country, and left the district worth about £20,000 in cash and assets. He then bought a property at Ohuka, which was a success until the slump.

His chief creditor was the Bank of New Zealand, and a representative of the bank cross-examined him regarding about 2,500 head of sheep and 244 head of cattle alleged to be missing from the farm when it was taken over by the bank. Bankrupt had stated that there were 386 cattle on the place, but only 142 were found after he left. He had “no idea in the world” where they had gone. He admitted that he had left a steam engine on the road, and a sawmill plant “scattered about generally” on the farm and the road.

“There is only one serious question,” said the official assignee. “I do not consider bankrupt was justified in going off and leaving valuable stock without making any arrangements when he knew the fences were not good.” Bankrupt said he had gone to his boy, who was very dangerously ill. The official assignee said all bankrupt had to do was to send a telegram to the bank telling it of the position When he returned to the farm there was a big shortage. What was going to happen to him was for the Bank of New Zealand to decide.