TROUBLES OF A COUNT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 150, 1 December 1914, Page 2

TROUBLES OF A COUNT.

ROTORUA BANKRUPTCY. 'SURPLUS QUESTIONED. Rotorua, Tuesday. At the first meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of Count Rene de Montagu, held this afternoon, Mr Northcroft explained that when the surplus was stated it was done with no idea of misleading creditors. He now knew that such a surplus was not to be expected. It had been stated before an accountant had had an opportunity of investigating the statement and was simply secured by deducting the amount of Faloona's debt from the stated value of the security. DIVORCED BY ENGLISH WIFE. Bankrupt stated that his title to count did not represent, any right to property. His father carried the title of marquis. He was French, and was 33 years of age last April. His family lived in Brittany. He had been in the French 'Army for some time, and had passed through a cadet's school.. He liad been invalided ps physically unfit from the 11th Army Corps. His mother and father were alive. He liad an interest in an estate in France. The estate did not go to the eldest son; it was divided among the family, half: being received on the death of his mother, and half on the death of his father.

I Bankrupt said he had never made a domicile in England, except when he goi his divorce. He married an English girl on August 3, 190!), in Eglarnl, before the registrar at Rugby. There were no children by that marriage. There had been a divorce granted on her application in July, 1013, when a decree nisi was allowed. It was made absolute in January, 1014. In 1011, they made an agreement by which his wife was to get £2O a month, but she neve}- applied for it. His father made the payment to her, and there was no .liability on him for alimony. The child which he had with him at Rotorua was not his, and ho did not recognise any liability in regard to it. Continuing, bankrupt said that he arrived in Auckland on February 3, 1014, from Sydney, and next day hvas in Rotorua. Until last. August ,he was in receipt of £■6B per month. Soon after coming here, he made a claim against the Government for lost luggage, and received £165 ss.

DIFFICULTIES OF FINANCE. ' A banker in Rotorua, continued bankrupt, allowed him overdrafts of £SO and £IOO. About April, the banker gave notice that the money must bo repaid by the end of June. He went to (Sampson on May I and borrowed £2OO, giving as security an unregistered bill of sale over practically all the furniture in his house. The bank had no security. On May 13, lie borrowed £2OO from Urquhart, giving him as a security an unregistered bill of sale over his guns, fishing gear, a set of furs he had given to the lady who was \v;th him, old lace, and a sapphire and a diamond ring. A piano was included by mistake in the bill of sale to Hanipson, but he found he could not include iti ; and he substituted a dressing case and a set of diamond sleeve-links. He had got the piano on the montliy payment system. The first meeting of his creditors, said bankrupt, was about the last ThurS J day in October. lAII in the room agreed! to come into an assignment .There werd 21- or 22 there.

Mr Fislier: You liave been here about 10 months. Tou got .£647 to the end of August, you have borrowed £SOO, .and have run up a debt of £BSO. Do you realise that in about nine months you Jiave got through about £2.000 ? The bankrupt replied that he realised that. But he had been living in Xow Zealand on the scale he had been living in London or Paris. Moreover, his had previously paid his debts. He s had redently been married. His wife | had a little money, but he had got nothing from her except to pay his railway fare to keep him. His father was seventy years of age. He thought that if his father were applied to, he would send a cheque in three months to pay for all lie owed.

Mr Northcroft said that his client wished to indicate that he preferred the application to come from the official assi^rnee.

The Official Assignee: That's a bit rough on your father, isn't it? Bankrupt said his father would not tliink it rough on him if he (the count) would settle down. .

Mr' Singer examined bankrupt at great length, with the object of showing that Miss Squire, who had lived with bankrupt, had not understood that her jewellery, furs, and laces were given as a security under the hill of sale to Urquhart. The meeting lasted from 2 to B p.m., and was continued until 8 p.m.