A MULTITUDE OF SWAPS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 207, 10 December 1910, Page 3

A MULTITUDE OF SWAPS

EXTAXG LED ESTATE. A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate or l'lC.gina'd Xoe! Heppell, of WaiI tarn, farmer, was held at the otlice of the' D.O.A. yesterday afternoon. Only four creditors were present. Bankrupt was represented by Mr. .Sellars. acting for Mr. thilliwell, of llawera. Bankrupt submitted the following statement:— ' 1 started business on February 1-2. 15)03, by purchasing a farm at Kainiata, Inilewood, from .Mr. Charles Taylor., of 181 acres, for £3.V)O, including stock ar.d chattels. There were two mortgages on the farm, a first" of £I7OO and a second of £1200.. and'l had ,to find £450 cash. At the time I had only £-2.50, lent to me lty my wife, and my then solicitor in* formed me he could'raise £'2so for me on 'the stock purchased. This, however, was not forthcoming, so to enable me to complete the .purchase I had to sell the stock and to exchange the far 51 for Mr. Weston's property at Urenui, and finally paid Mr. Tfivlqr £3OO and gave a I\X.,. whieli was endorsed by my father for the balance. Weston's property was of 1623 acres. There were heavy mortgages on this place, one liable to be called in 1 at mortgagee's death. I was unable to finance this T623 acres, and a verbal arrangement was made between Mr. Weston and myself that I was to give up ..any claim I : had to that property and take 201'. acres at Carrington road, Xew Plymouth,, and £ 1,00 cash instead. Immediately after this verbal agreement entered into an agreement to exchange the 201 acres for Mr. Marr's property at Waitara of 240 acres. Two days after the verbal agreement I found that Mr. Weston had changed his mind and would not entertain the matter. This caused me considerable trouble, owing to mv haying- agreed to exchange the 201 acres to Mr. A. C. Marr, of Waitara, for his property, situated on the Tikorangi road, Waitara, consisting of 240 acres and stock thereon. Mr. Marr pressed me to- complete the exchange I had niadc with him, but I, of course, -could not do this. Acting under the agreement made with hitn, Mr. Manpressed me, and I then had to endeavor to buy -his property and asiked for extended time in the matter, which was given. During the period given, I exchanged Mr. Marr's property for property at Wellington, but when we came to complete I found tlie Wellington property not what it had been represented to me, so therefore could not finance same, which, of course, caused further trouble and delay between Mr. Marr and myself. ■ After a time, I endeavored to exchange the farm for property in Stratford and Xew Plymouth owned by Mr Meyenberg, but going into the matter carefully for some time, my then solicitor, Mr. E. M. Townsend, of Waitara, advised me to cry off the deal, which was eventually .done. - Finally Ihe 'sold the stock on the place at my risk, out of which h-j got about £OOO, and i gave him a second mortgage for £ISOO, there being already a mortgage on it for £3OOO. On April 18 last I entered into •an agreement to exchange the 240 acres ■at Waitara, subject to mortgages, for £4500, for the Crown ..Stables at Strat•ford, .owned by Mr. Jones. was to pay £6OO by way of equality of exchange ( £450 cash,. £SO in one month, £SO in two .months, and £SO in four .months); Before signing this agreement r in Mr. Townsend's cilice I asked Mr. L. Blenjierhassett if he could finance me fori £(>00 to be raised 011 tlie stable chattels. I He promised to do this, and on this understanding I entered into the 'transaction.' sfr.. Blennerhassetj; did not find the money by the due date as promised. 1 was offered Jackson's farm of 421 acres and stock, subject to mortgages, for £2970, which I accepted in exchange for the stables (subject to the stables transaction being completed).. It was then arranged that t-he exchanges of the Waitara farm for, the stables and of the stables for Jackson's farm should be completed together, and this was eventually done.' Mr. Blennerhassett, however, instead of finding £6OO as promised, found only £SOO, and as all parties were anxious to complete I again 'tiad to complete the transactions with £IOO less than I expected. By this transaction I becafne possessed of Jackson's farm of 421 acres ■and the stock. The stock was sold by ■Messrs Blenner.hassett and "Sons. They claim commissions to which I think they •are not entitled. I had to sell the farm to provide money for adjustments of rates and interest on the completion of the stables transactions. The farm was 60ld to Morton for £3420 12s 6d, £250 of which was received by Messrs Blennerhassett, and there is a balance of £212 still owing, by Morton. The transaction being still uncompleted, 1 gave a mortgage for £2OO to Blennerhassett for money advanced by him, also to provide for the adjustment of rates and interest on the stables transactions, and Morton ■holds the balance of the purchase money till the question of .his mortgage is settled. I have received nothing for myself out of the sale to Morton. Up till quite recently Mr. Townsend, of Waitara had; all my affairs in hand, and I acted under his advice. He has, however, left Xew Zealand and holds a number of papers, statements and documents relative to the exchanges. These, however, I have been unable to obtain. I attribute my bankruptcy to want of capital and inexperience. 1 am only 22 years of age and have now found that I took on responsibilities too heavy for me to bear. I had been previously employed by a firm of land agents, anil was in the 'habit of arranging exchanges of property for other people, but I did not realise sufficiently what it was to take the-burden of heavy responsibilities myself. The reason of my giving cheques to several of my creditors was that I understood that through the transactions through 1 Blennerhassett and Sons I would have I some money paid into my account at the Xational Bank, Stratford. I informed Mr. Bayly, the manager of the Bank, to this effect. I was arrested and committed for trial in connection with one of these cheques, but no bill was found against me by the Grand Jury, Wanganui. I have been sued by several creditors, and had 110 alternative but to file. At present and for the last two months I have been living in a cottage on my father's farm and' working for him, simply earning enough to keep my wife and child. I have no property whatever, and have lost £250 of my wife's money, and my father lias helped me in mv difficulties and lias lost heavily. The following list of unsecured creditors was read by the D.O.A.: —(t. Avery, saddler, £1.7; Devenport Bros., storekeepers, £4 16s; Cameron, care Xew Zealand Clothing Factory, £10; T. H. Ross, commission agent, £35; Signal Bros., stablekeepers, £9 10s (Marton creditors); James and (iillman, land agents (Hawera), £10; L. Peat, land (Feilding) £5,; J. Jones, stablekeeper (Stratford), £150; F. Cooch, £5; L. Street, stablekeeper (Tnglewood), £3; S. Houston, stablekeeper (Inglewood), £2 14s; E. Beckbessinger, £4; W. P. Snell, £1; W. MicKenzie, £2O; G. 11. Stubbs, £1 las: A. Kerr, £l2: J. Kibby, £1 10s ; G. Kniffht, £7; W. Jackson, £1 5s (all of Waitara); W. A. Jury, 15s; H. A. j Coburn, £1; W. Little, £7 17s 7d; Xew' Zealand Clothing Factory. £3 €s; Red Post Furnishing Co., £2 17s Cd; Xewton Kin?, £5 8s; A. C. Marr, £69; Honnor and'ciarke, 13s Gd; Dr. Fookes, £6 6s (all of New Plymouth); W. H. Heppell (Sentry Hill), £473 0s 8d; Mrs. R. N. Heppell (Sentry Hill), £250; l>r. Sker- ' man

Tho follo\v:n<r also made claims against the bankrupt. which lie would not admit : —,7» \Y. Wil-on, land (New Plymouth),los 4d;'E.'-J. Carthew, land agf.it iXew Plymouth, £SO; C. Wright, solu-itor (Xow Plymouth), not statea; TJlennerhassett and Son?, land agents lEltham), £107; total, £435 10s ' id. ■The following were contingent liabili: ties:—W. H. Heppell, .-£355 7s; Dr. Sker.man. £252 Is 9d: total, £GO7 8s Oil. 'The assess were returned as nil. Mr. Sellars.made a statement on behalf of bankrupt, who, he said, had thrauih his .inexperience, become a victim of the pernicious system of land exchanges, so common in Tarana-ki. Instead of improving his position of affairs, as he thought, he .gradually got into a worse and inextricable position, and he was simply forced to seek the protection bankruptcy afforded. He. said, the commission claimed by one of the creditors appeared grossly excessive. He referred at length to the events leading up to the Oourt I proceedings and to the fact that bankrupt had absolutely nothing to offer the creditors, he at present working for a wage on -his father's farm. The creditors appeared to think there was nothing to be gained bv going into an estate that was obviously valueless; and the meeting adjourned sine die, the D.O.A. undertaking to obtain particulars from Blennerhassett and Sons as to their■claim, over which there wa§- some discussion.