MEETING OP CREDITORS

Temuka Leader, Issue 2401, 20 September 1892, Page 3

MEETING OP CREDITORS

The first meeting of creditors of Francis Drake, farmer, Temuka, was held at Timaru yesterday. There were present, the bankrupt and his solicitor, Mr Salmond, and three creditors —I. Rehu, H. Brosnahan, and T. McLeod, Mr A. Montgomery, deputy assignee,[presided. Liabilites—Unsecured creditors, £253 15s lid ; secured creditors, £22 13s; estimated value of securities, £96; surplus to credit, £73 17s. Assets—Surplus from secuirties, £73 7s, cash in hand £l2 17s sd, property £5; total £9l 4s sd.

Deficiency, £162 11s 6d. Unsecured creditors —J. Brown, £44; D. Henry, £2716s 8d; E. W. Body, £25 ; Sir W. Blunden, £3 12s 6d; L. Rooke, £2 10s; W. Russell, £2 Is 8d; J. Blyth, £2 ; R. Kennedy, £2 10s; R. Love, 12s; Talbot and Lyon, £1 6s; J. M. Twomey, £1 Is; G. Mason, 16s; R. Edgar, 16s; Clark, £3; W. Boyd, £1 15s 3d ; T. Hombrook, 12s ; W. McLeod, £8 Os 6d ; A. Humphrey, £72; Harper and Co. (Christchurch), £4 4s ; and the following wages :—W, Lane, £3 2s 6d ; A. Wesley and J. Kahu, £l6 12s; H. Brosnahan, £7 Is 7d; F. Fowler, £2 Is 8d; I. Rehu, £6 17s; M. O’Brien, £1 18s 6d; H. Rooke, £3 10s: M. Kyne, £1; J. Henwood, £7 10s. Total debts unsecured, £253 15s lid.

Secured Creditors :—Harper and Co., Christchurch, £96 ; debt £22 12s ; security, stock and implements seized under distress for rent.

Property —272 sacks potatoes, shipped through Mr Bowker, estimated to return £5. , . Bankrupt stated that he began farming on hia own account on the TemukaKakahu road the year before last on 20 acres, which he put in potatoes. This year had 45 acres from Harper & Co. at 10s an acre. Had 27 acres of this in wheat and oats ; the rest in grass. Also 36 acres in potatoes from Mr Humphrey, of Seadown. Also, from last May, 83 acres from Mr Body at £3O a year; rough riverbed in its natural state for grazing. Had about £270, and no debts, when he began two years ago. Shipped potatoes to Sydney, Brisbane, and Auckland. Fourteen hundred of 1670 sacks shipped through Mr Bowker realised about £45 net; 320 sacks shipped through Mr Aspinall netted £25. On one shipment there was a loss of between £3 and £4. Attributed his position to the loss on the potato crops, and the wheat also was a loss. It only realised £l6 3s Bd. Sold it to Mr J. Brown, and it went towards a store account. The oats were used on the place. To H. Broshanan : Had £270 when he started, but out of that he had to buy horses and implements, and on getting married had to furnish the house. Had no stock of his own on Body’s land —only some sheep from auctioneers, and after killing some and losing others he had nothing to get for the grazing. The horses, harness, dray, cows, and implements cost £126 10s. Valued them at £9O now. Put up a house on Harper’s land at a cost of £3O. Had a five-years’ lease, with a purchasing clause, at 10s an acre —to pay off £SO this year, £SO the third year, and the balance, £260, at the end of five years. Had paid nothing. Mr Salmond soid this property had not been put in the schedule, as it was hard to say how to treat it—whether as a liability or an asset. Mr Brosnahan blamed the debtor for not filing sooner, and Mr McLeod did so because the debtor deducted the “tucker bill” from those who dug the potatoes,etc., leaving him (who had supplied the food) to get nothing. To Mr Salmond the debtor said the rent of the 36 acres of Humphrey’s land was £2 an acre, £72 ; that had not been paid. The cost of putting in seed, manure, wages, and horse feed, etc., was about £9O ; and digging and parting the crop about £7O, of which about £3O had been paid. The total net proceeds of the sale of the crop were about £6O. To Mr Brosnahan the debtor said the manure was supplied by Aspinall & Co., £24 7s 6d, and they were paid out of the potatoes shipped. Had to]d creditors he would pay the diggers and others out of the advances on shipments, but iic could not get any advances. The debtor considered that there should be a sufficient surplus from the sale of the stock seized by Harper & Co. to pay preferential claims. The meeting adjourned for a month.