HUSBAND AND WIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1922, Page 2

HUSBAND AND WIFE.

PETITIONS IN BANKRUPTCY, STATEMENTS OF TROUBLES. The meeting of creditors which was to have been Jjeld at the office of the D.0.A., Mr. J. SI S. Medley, New Plymouth, yesterday, concerning the bankrupt estates of Thomas Rqbson, farmer, Kiore, and his wife, Florence May Robson, was adjourned, on the application of the creditors, to the Stratford Court-house, on Wednesday, at 2 p.m. . The statements of assets and liabilities of both bankrupts have already been published, and yesterday the following written statements concerning their farming operations wfere submitted. Mrs. Robson said she bought a farm from Mrs. Stockley in December, 1920, at which time slie had £2OO in the Post Office and £4OO as her share of her mother’s estate, while she was also guaranteed at the bank for £350. She paid £5OO deposit on the farm plus £124 2s 3d for legal expenses and £lO 17s for balance of apportionments, while she bought 16 dairy. and other stock to the value of £223 4s 2d. Two more cows were subsequently bought, and the butter-fat returns for the season were £233 9s Id. The sum of £73 19s was paid into her account by her husband, while James Robson advanced £49. The sum of £9B was practically all spent on improvements, and in the following August 12 more cows were bought for £194, £25 being paid as deposit. The statement continued with reference to the negotiations over the nonpayment of interest to A. Stockley, and for chattel securities for the balances due on the cattle and milking-machine which had been installed. Bankrupt held on hoping that Stockley would come to terms, but he applied to the court for power to sell, while Phillips, who had a first bill of sale over the stock, sold them. Being pressed by other creditors, bankrupt decided to file. The total returns for butter-fat since she took over the farm were £526, in addition to which there is a bonus due, while £1346 8s Bd, apart from living expenses, had been paid out. This amount was made up by £786 19s 7d for purchase costs and interest; £441 2s 2d for stock, and £9B 6s lid for wages and improvements. Thomas Robson, her husband, said that on November 3, 1920, he leased from A. J. Stockley the house which formed the residence of the farm his wife later on purchased. He had the milling rights over an area of white pine not far from the house, and intended to mill it, his wife assistin,'; him financially in the venture. Mrs. Robson, however, decided to go in for the < farm, so he sold the milling rights and paid in to her account the deposit of £75 which he received. They carried on with 17 cows during the first season, and in the following spring increased the herd to 36, but from then on they had the slump, and with extensive improvements and the living expenses for a family of six children and three adults, they had been making leeward right along. The statement concluded that they had been threatened from several quarters, and had also confessed judgment for £ll2 for interest. As most of the debts to outside firms had been issued in bankrupt’s name, and knowing that he could not pay them, he had decided to file.