Bankruptcy Meeting.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXIV, Issue 3786, 20 May 1908, Page 2

Bankruptcy Meeting.

ESTATE OF J. K. PIERCE,

A special meeting of creditors in the above estate was held at the Court - house, Cambridge, before Mr E. Gerard, OScial Assignee. There were eight creditors present. The bankrupt was supported by his solicitor, Mr W. F. Buckland. Mr Buckland stated that, at his instance, creditors had moved the Assignee to hold this meeting in order to obtain a vote for a grant to his. "lient, who, although being in dire distress, had been refused the old age pension, and being a proved creditor, in the estate, he (Mr Buckland) would move "That the bankrupt should be allowed out of the estate a sum of 10s per week towards the support of himself and his family," and at the same time he would ask the Assignee what he had done or would do to help the bankrupt to get the old age pension. The Assignee, in reply, stated that notwithstanding the view to the contrary taken by the Magistrate who heard and refused the bankrupt's application, Pierce was, and is, justly entitled to the old age pension. It was absurd, for the purposes of the old age pension, to take into consideration the property or Home interest of a bankrupt when such property and interest for the next five years, under ! the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, was being absorbed by the Assignee on behalf of the creditors. That was the case with Pierce's Home interests. There an annual net income of £IOO to £lO5, which at the time of adjudication—2sth July, 1905—had become j vested in the Assignee, The credi- : tors' claims, proved and admitted, amounted to £574 8s 4d. There was about £lO7 cash in hand, from realisation, and not until the claims and costs of bankruptcy proceedings had ben met in full, could Pierce legally claim to have any title to one penny of the life interest left to him by his late father's will. Hence Pierce at the present time, and for the next five years, possessed nothing, and was therefore, other reasons permitting, entitled to receive the old age pension. The Hon. the Minister for Justice had lately asked the Assignee to report on the matter, and there was no doubt in his mind that presently the error would be corrected. In respect of Mr Buckland's motion, the Assignee would remind creditors that their receiving any dividend depended on the bankrupt's life, and as 10s per week is insufficient to keep Pierce, his wife and two young chil- , dren, it might be wise to supplement the old age pension, or the charitable aid now granted by the Board, by a sum which could at all times prevent Pierce and his family from starving. It was then formally moved by Mr . Buckland, seconded by Mr J. W. . Souter, and carried unanimously, i "That the bankrupt be allowed by the . Assignee the sum of ten shillings per i week, provided he continues to abstain from taking spirituous liquor; i the money to be paid over to him i weekly by the Clerk of the Court, as ; agent for the Assignee." Pierce, after being sworn by the . Assignee, stated on oath that for the . past nine months he had been a memj ber of the Salvation Army and had not touched any liquor since joining I the Army. The meeting was then adjourned i sine die.