Land Speculator Who Owed £18,000

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 619, 22 March 1929, Page 1

Land Speculator Who Owed £IB,OOO

TANGLED BANKRUPTCY

IN ABEYANCE SINCE 1920

The story of a bankrupt land speculator whose debts totalled over £IB,OOO, and whose affairs v/ere so bound up with those of his wife that examinations in 1926 by Mr. W. S. Fisher, then official assignee at Auckland, and counsel for a creditor, had failed to disentangle the position, was heard in the Supreme Court this morning.

Mr. A. H. Johnstone moved that further examination of Jesse James Hills, a, bankrupt, should cease. This motion was a prelude to a motion for discharge, which was not proceeded with until the court should give its decision on the first point. Mr. H. O. Cooney, of Te Puke, apposed the applicatoin on behalf of a creditor, “In this case some special circumstances arise,” said Mr. Johnstone. “Bankrupt was first examined in March, 1926. The investigation was adjourned until the following August, and nothing lias since been done. I am also moving that further examination of debtor should now cease. Nothing has been done for two and alialf years, and I have heard no reason why he should not be discharged. Mr. Cooney: If you look at the report of the official assignee, you would see why further investigation has ceased. The bankrupt has tangled his affftfrs with those of his wife. His books do not disclose separate transactions, and he has been carrying on partly under his own name and partly under his wife’s. Since 1923 he lias been conducting a land business, so that the profits go to his wife, and the liabilities to himself. His debts are something over £IB,OOO. The official assignee has had no money to conduct further examination. If a person goes bankrupt, and makes a proper job of his creditors, as this man has done, the assignee cannot go on. But if the creditors get something the assignee can proceed. Mr. Justice Blair: What sort of answers did he give at his examination? —Replies of a very vague and reticent character. It was impossible to say when his wife came into the business. I submit the duty is incumbent upon a debtor to supply full information to the assignee. Mr. Johnstone: Bankrupt was in the witness-box for two days. Not a single application has since been made to him by either the assignee or Mr. Cooney.

Mr. Cooney: It is not my duty. Mr. Johnstone: It is somebody’s duty. Hills has been engaged in land speculation—-I d-o not wish to justify it —for many years. He fell a victim to the 1922 slump. Everything has been supplied that was asked for. He was at one time a relatively wealthy man. His wife’s relations with the business date back a long time. Is the court going *to hold this over his head for years and years and years? Nothing could be gained by letting the case go on. The position is that the opponents have no further questions to ask. The assignee has no intention to oppose. Mr. Cooney: We can put him in the box. Mr. Johnstone: I am conducting this application. I fear my friend is taking the vexatious attitude, and wishes to prevent the man trading again. If his clients were serious, they would have taken action long ago. His Honour said he wished for time to consider judgment.