A QUEER INSOLVENCY.-FRAUD SUSPECTED.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 54, 14 June 1884, Page 5

A QUEER INSOLVENCY.FRAUD SUSPECTED.

A rather suspicious case of insolvency is just now being investigated by the Official Assignee. The bankrupt is Samuel Joseph Moncvieff, boardinghouse keeper of Wairoa, near Ohinemutu, and his liabilities, which amount to LB7B 12s, were all contracted within the compass of a year, his capital "tthen he started business being £170. Messrs McArthur and Co. aro bitton to the extent of L 619, and Mann and Co., of Tauranga, are interested to the amount of LI 30. The only assets are book debts estimated to produce Ll5O, and the leasehold interest in a house which is valued at L3OO. Under examination at a meeting of his creditors, the bankrupt declared that at the burning of his store he lost L4OO worth of goods, and Ll6B in pound notes, which he had rolled up in paper and placed upon a shelf in the room adjoining his bedroom. He could give no particulars, however, concerning these notes, and had no means of ascertaining their numbers. The whole statement was so unsatisfactory that the creditors appointed. Mr C. C. McMillan, supervisor in the estate, directed the bankrupt to file an account of his trading since he commenced business, and requested the assignee to ascertain inter alia whether the bankrupt had not (1) concealed or removed part of his property ; (2) Avastefully dissipated his property after his insolvency in such a way as to defraud his creditors ; (3) attempted to account for part of his property by fictitious losses and expenses ; (4) and disposed of goods obtained from McArthur and Co., and Mercer and Co,, otherwise than in the ordinary course of trade. Some strange disclosures are anticipated,

" To Almighty God, cave of His Excellency the Governor of Madras," was the address of a petition sent lately by some Hindoos, who, having in vain appealed to the Government, carried the matter to a higher court. Mr Henry MacKenzie, formerly Senior Inspector of the Oriental Bank Corporation, has been appointed Inspector of branches of the Colonial Bank. He will arrive in New Zealand in a few days. "Those birds flying over yonder are aquatic birds, I suppose V' asked the young man in the seal-brown suit of tho captain of the steamer. "No, they ain't," was the scornful reply ; "them's ducks." Sweden has the largest match factory in the world, turning out a million boxes daily. Twenty steamers and eight sailing vessels are employed carrying wood to it,