The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-02-02 00:00:00

Bebonobire.

DARTMOUTH AND TORDAY RAILWAY.—The first
sod of this line was cut in the presence of a number
of spectators on Thursday by Mr. L. V. Palk, M. P.
The work will be commenced immediately, and
vigorously prosecuted. The line will pass within a
mile of Brixham, and will terminate at Kingsnear, a
hamlet on the eastern side of Dartmouth harbour,
which will be connected with the town by a floating
bridge.
CORNWALL Itarr.w.tv—The works on the Albert.
bridge acmes the Tamar are progressing favourably.
The tubular arch, which was erected a few months
ago, has been lifted by hydraulic power from time to
time its the building of the piers proceeded. A
number of men are now employed in forming the
tube for the eastern arch. The railway in most
of the districts between Saltash and Truro is com-
pleted, and the entire line from the Plymouth station
will be ready for traffic so soon as the bridge is
completed.

EXETER DISTRICT COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.

(Before Mr. Commissioner BERE.)
FIRST•CLABS CERTIFICATE.

Re SLADE and VINING, solicitors, Yeovil. This was
a sitting on Tuesday last, for last examination. Mr.
Stogdon appeared for the assignees.
Mr. Hirtzell (the official assignee) read the following
report: the balance-sheet commences on the 31st Dec.,
1854, with a capital of £13,535 lls., chiefly composed of
accounts and bills for business due to the firm. The
profits on accounts settled and still due, during • period
of two years and ten months, are stated to be
£6,599 Is. 7d. The payments to be set against profits
are credited to J. Slade as profit, £3,300 ; J. Slade 's over
drafts, £1,251 10s. lid.; credited to J. T. Vining as
profit, £825, J. T. Vining's over drafts, £5O 6s. 43.
Expen les, namely, clerks' salaries and office payments,
£1,766 6s. 43.-£7,192 17s. 73.; each of the partners
also withdrew from the capital a sum of £1,052 2s. 6d.
The losses, which form an item in addition to the fore-
going, amount to £1,446 Si. 24., and include £763 7s. 103.
loss on sale of partnership offices, &a., and £547 10s. on
mining shares. The creditors holding mortgages claim
£21,798 Is 6d., and the properties in mortgage are
valued in £6,092 4s. 7d., and part at cost price,
£20,473 16e. 11d.-£26,566 is. 63. At present it is
quite impossible to say what will be realised from the
sale of the mortgaged properties. The unsecured
creditors claim £lO,llO 14s. 3d; debts without con-
sideration, £2,526, together £12,636 14s. 3d. The assets
are debts called good, £8,467 Is. led., and property,
£357 Is. 9d. With regard to the debts, the sum to be
realised will depend much on the amount received for
properties held as security for payment of many of the
debts. The property (1:357 30. 93.) contains the value of I
land at Fulham, which is held by a creditor claiming a
set-off for a debt due to him. I am not at present in a
position to say what probable amount of dividend will be
paid to the creditors, as so much depends on the sale of
the mortgaged and other properties. The bankruptcy is
stated to have arisen from budding contracts in London,
which were thrown on bankrupts' hands by the
bankruptcy and insolvency of certain persons with whom
they had previously been connected.
In re JOHN SLADE (separate estate.)-The capital
shown on the 31st Dec., 1856, amounts to £5,569 2s. 53.
The receipts during nine months and • half are: profits
from Slade and Vining, £900; overdraft from ditto,
£731 14s. 93.; rents, £7Ol 17s. 43.: dividends on mines,
£76 Is. 3d.; interest on mortgages, £77 58. 43.; total
£2,487 3s. 43. Bankrupt also received on account of
Slade and Vining • balance cash account, amounting to
£5lO Is. 11d. The payments are :-trade expenses,
£1,640 18s. 43.; household ditto, £499 10s. 43. ; total,
£2,140 Be. 83. And losses amounting to £778 13s. 3d,
The principal loss is £745 6s. 3d. on the Southwark Iron
works. In the trade expenses will be found payments
for Life Assurance, £213 108. 23.; and interest
£1,074 Is. 63. The household expenses for eleven to the
family, charged at £6 per week, cannot be considered
excessive. The creditors on mortgage claim £22,151
15s. 7d.; the property mortgaged is valued in £29,378
2s. led.; the unsecured creditors' debts are, £8,926 18s.
lid.; and debts without consideration, £1,487 10s; the

assets are—debts, £556 118.; property, £7,077 Os. 3d.
Of the debts, a considerable portion are for rents. In
the property is included the Southwarl. Iron works,
which the assignees have sold for £2,100; but out of
this sum, the creditors' claims on the iron works,
amounting to 1:9A5 12s. 7d. ; must be paid in full.
There are debts due to the iron works called good,
£544 4s. lid., but a large portion of the amount may be
entered as doubtful. As in the joint estate, so in this
separate estate, I cannot, with any degree of accuracy,
state the probable amount of dividend.
In re J. T. VINING (separate estate).—The capital,
stated on the 31st December, 1856, is £10,087 12t‘.
The receipts during the nine months and half are—bills
paid and owing, .£3,141 2s. Bd. ; received from Slade and
Vining, £225; interest, rent, d:c., £177 14s. 3d.; profit
on policy, £423 195.; total, £4,767 15e. lid. 'The pay-
ments are—Salaries and office expenses, £616 2s. lit.;
personal expenses, rents, and maintenance of 17 persons,
£966 ss. 44. ; interest, £79045. 54. ; total, £2,372 12s. Id.
The losses are £605 Os., including £94 16e. 54., a bad
debt; £135 108. 4d., balance of a building contract; and
£375 Sc. on mortgage by Matthews, a bankrupt. There
are large souls due to creditors on mortgage, but it is
admitted that a surplus will be realised on sale of mort-
gaged properties, amounting to £4,896 17e. 104. The
unsecured creditors' debts amount to £6,739 Os. 64. The
assets are—debts, £6,572 15e. 54. ; and property,
£2,690 6s. 44., a considerable portion of the latter being
railway, mining, and other shares. I cannot take upon
myself to say what will be realised for the benefit of the
creditors, as so much depends on the sale of the various
properties.
Mr Stogdon made an able speech for the bankrupts,
in which he appealed to the Court on the ground of the
honourable conduct of the bankrupts, to grant them a
first-class certificate. Mr. Murley, on behalf of the
assignees, concurred in the observations and application
of Mr. Stogdon, and His Honour said he had no diffi-
culty whatever in complying with the request. He
therefore granted each of the bankrupts a certificate of
the first class.

SINOVLAR CASE ENDER THE Naw DIVORCE Acx.
—At the Exeter Guildhall on Wednesday, before
Mr. H. Hooper, the Mayor, and Mr. Bastard, a city
magistrate, an itpplication was made on behalf of
Mrs. Catherine Bond, under the 20th and 21st of
Victoria, cap. 85, for an order to protect her pro.
perty against her husband and his creditors. The
clause in question provides that a wife deserted by
her husband might at any time after such desertion
apply to the justices in petty sessions for an order to
protect any property which she might acquire after
the desertion, provided that the justices are satisfied
that such desertion was made without reasonable
cause. It was stated by Mrs. Bond the applicant,
that she was married to her husband in 1826, that in
1833 he deserted her, and she did not hear anything
of him for a period of nearly five years, until last
Jnne, when he came to her house at Exeter, and, be-
ing wholly destitute, she allowed him to sleep under
her roof and to take his meals in the kitchen. Dur-
ing the five years he was absent she bad maintained
herself by letting furnished lodgings, and had ac-
quired the means of keeping herself respectably. A
few days ago it was ascertained that applicant's hus-
band had, during the five years he was absent from
his wife, married another woman at Bristol, and he
is now in Exeter goal on a charge of bigamy. Mr.
Roberts, the solicitor, who appeared for Mrs. Bond,
said that she had been applied to for payment of her
husband's debts and if an order of protection were
not granted there was reason to believe that many
other similar applications would be made. He con-
tended that the husband of the applicant had com-
mitted a voluntary act in marrying another woman,
by which he was taken away from his wife, and that
this was desertion within the meaning of the Act.
The Mayor, however, held, that although the hus-
band had deserted the applicant for five years he had,
by returning to her again, and by being received by
her into her house, freed himself from the charge of
the permanent desertion provided by the Act. He
further held, that the husband's being in custody of
the law on a criminal charge, of which he had not
yet been proved to be guilty, was not desertion. If,
however, Bond was convicted (as there is every rea-
son to believe he will be),then his wife could obtain
protection under the Act. The order was therefore
refused, but the Mayor expressed his regret at being
obliged to withhold protection, as the case was one
of a gross and painful nature.