The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-03-24 00:00:00

RE HENRY VINES BANKRUPTCY.

On Monday his if moar, Judte Tindal Atkinson,
beide sitting in chambers at the Pubs-court, Who-
bones, for the hearing of a motion under NO. 92 of the
Act of 181/J, by which the trustee of the masts sought
to have certain dealing. and transactions which t lob
place bitween the debt )r, wbo, It will be remembered,
carried on businase in a large way as a meat c.intrac-
tor ant dealer at Weymouth, and Mr. J. C. Lover, of
the same plaos, butcher, shortly previous to filing the
p Akio°, declared fraudulent against the trustee, se
being a fraudulent preference on the part of the
debtor._ _ . _

Mr. Trevor Davies, of Sberboree, relOreseeted the
tru,tse, Mr. Deozau, of 00,11; sad Mr. Howard of
tVeyroJutb,, rep/wasted Mr. losver, against whom
ths_or ler.ot the oourt wall asked.

Mr. Davie., in opening his argument, which
occupied considerably over thee. hour', gave a general
hut ay of the relations between the two parties. He
stated that Vine hal been piotecuted and en:evicted
of almost every offence under the Debtors' Aat, an 1
that alone, he contended, went greatly to chow the
-xi..tence of an intention to fraudulently preferred
friend MA neighbour, Mr. Liver. The two appeared
Ia have both carried on the business of buying loads
at ~no market an 1 selling them at another, sometime.
cutting up the beast, for their owo use, and
,cc .siooally puichesiug of each other. These treason-
tl ,no were always for cash, but within a month of the
liling ci his Imaila'ion petition by Vine the cisme of
hairless between them underwent an entire change.
Viiio received nothing more from Lever, but L leer
took all he c. al-1 get (ram Vii,e, whether in money,
live stock, or dead meat. He did not, till this time,
nor was it cat ,mary with any butcher., to purchase
of another whole c Leases of dad meat, but he rec tired
world cueb quautit le from Vine within • fortnight of
the o.h Macon. 1833, belele. hire besets, when
at th ,t time, Mr. Davies a iiitenie 1, it ICY C immon
knowledge Vine c cold not lest much longer. In sup-
port of his contention Mr, Davies read extracts from
voluminnui co; i w of act., which bait been taken in the
iae of Vine to. Layer before the Court, and ref erred
to the various amounts of thwe tree...diem., es
tarnished by their respective hooka, pointing out in
dia.( so that the two differed in most important
detail., t 3 which he could have oceasieo to rater later
or. Mr. DATIOS continued the creditor had never sent in
any particlel rs or pretested that he had • debt
ciabet the e.tate until the 20:12 of November, 1834,
two month's( ter the execution at Dorchester, and be
iclosed his accounts, although asked for them,
until they were dragged out of him at previous
assignation.. What were the dealings between
Vine and Lever? First thus WS/ a sale of .6300 of
live animals by Lever. How WWI that to be paid for'
As Laver had told them over and over again in his
examination by cab. Now, did Vine get paid in
th t way, because, lilt had been • fair and honest
',enaction, and above boar 1, he ought to have been,
but no, he only got about 1:100 in cam on the 3.1r1 ol
Febra try, and 113 uf the amount was absolutely got
is dead meat, and partially in a steer. Tubs was
utterly out of his ordi ialy contract of haloes., and
on the Sri of March we credit Vine with • still
to ire extraordinary item, for it MUM have b
absolutey us,.less to a butcher In his way of hada',
-a a,w on-1 y mtg. Now he (Olt. Dan.) asked
Lover whetla-r he had been in the habit, prior t this
transaction, of obi-sluing dead meat from Vine, and
h, lc ,eat 'I the idea he Ritual,' ever have done such a
thing. In qiestion 66 at the first examination—
" Mat were your transact-lona with Vice? Were y
la the habit during the past thee, or four years of
haying rear meat from Vine " his rep'y woe
" Cert icly not; it tan% likey," In question 70
his tin. air would see he askeil him again previous to
Maich the 10th—" Were you in the habit of buying
deal meat of him," awl hie reply was " No, not dead
twat; only agaiwt the shop account; it most have
been a steak or • chop, or anything lake that." He
Redo 'eked him—"Oen you, before the beginning of
'413, give sue from your book or anywhere else your
transactions In dead meat with Vine," and his answer
was' I Son VIVO 11, II ccc transartiou in dead meat."
, that hie (Mr. Davie.') argument WWI that prin. to
'33 he het never been accuatorned to get from Vine
meat except in the way of • little sh m account. But
what do we find l' That he bought by dead weight •
steer amounting to £lB 19.. 41. • few days only prior
te Vice liqui Wien, and 791bs. weight of sheep on
the 23rd cf Februnry. All them things were got
fr ,m Vine on the eve of him liquidation, and not in
the ordi eery coarse of ballads. If these traneactions
were fair an i above boa], what poielble objection
could Kr. Lover have hat to have rend, re-1 an
aciount of them to the trustees. Bat he would go
farther and ask how wee it if these transactions were
fair and above herd they found that
Vine', account of them did not agree with Mr.
Layer's, awl how WM it that Mr. Liver could pro
duo, ha Bea, as, he conteadal. be should be able to
do, o' thesalltransactione which were made at th time.
Tse whole of the accounts which Layer hod sub-
no,tte i, he contest led, were on the taco of thun
soepictorri—ista were altered and dates wet., put
In months and months after the transactions were
made, Mr. Lover had contradictel himself, and hi,
answers were of • marvellously contradictory
character. in one of his rephee he sail the time.
In others weeks, and again in months after. Let his
H moue for • m 'meat take the "Black Book,"
which he yaw was the one upon which Mr. Lever
relief. Mum ha was first examined, having been
served with • proper notice to produce all his b eke
Meowing his transactions with Vine, the only hook
produce-I was that, and he WWI examined
upon that. It was then found he had •
lodger. and ht, examination was adjourned that
ha might produce it. He did so, and arolaly enough
there woe no entries to bet ,und in it relating to any
transaction wiih Vine, beyond Cues which he (Hr.
Davi is) impeached there that day. This book was
ote that lie w0.,-exainine-1 L a ter about at an enormous
lan..th, and for the rimple :omen that he could not
get • straight alawer to a straight question, and his
Hooonr would eee that on mot- than one occasion the
learned Rigistrar had to warn Lover a to the way in
which he wss giving his answers., Now if that account
were to be dope:idol upon at ali if the answers were
kk, he failed to sea why Mr. Laver should have
had any difficulty in aiieweilog his question.. The
*atria he 6- •t ewe du were envie at the time ; then
he s ill three days aft or; and then it might have been
a week after.

_
Toe ix lie : You klow, when • man is tinier the
excitement of a c:ose-examication he very oftin makes
answer., to escspe from some little dill mitt-, which
viz.s up m his min I, and then afterwards corrects
them.

I) >VII : The remou I put • atm' upon it is
leteems.l. ye, plus his care upon faith of these snider,.
othor answeri he nail the dates had been altered
long after the entries Its I been mvle--"alb.rad against
rue to be c rrrecr."—" When r—" When I received
o Ake that this was analog ' It was Pince you
knew this invertigati In was to be made."—" Certainly
it WS& " Those were Levees ptatemente ; let them
compare them wi h those made by Vole. Vine' date'
(tort...duly wool I not ogres with Lacer'. for this reason,
Vine hot a.o id revurent to put dotes hack as Is 11,
had, and ha co doubt put d Ara day by day the
transectione that took pier. betvesen them.
e .Lr'ge : Th ra wan some reason, I meow,
for Mr. Lava's day-baok rub being I.'witlesl•
Mr. Darn..: It was given to tbe servant to lisbt
the fire with, Pir.—lle caked him "Where is your
day-book." He replied "I haven't got one' ; and
then he (dlr. Dailey) eprun; ulna him the rpm tron
" Then where dli you get these entries from ?"
" Prom my day-b ok," be replied. " Where is It "
"I cant Pay, I do's know if I cm produce one of the
book', for rrrrr year we give them to the servant to
light the fire with. We close up oor clay•boolte every
year, Now as to the it rat of EL lUr. for In ex
bought at Dorche•ter, entered in the " black book "
under date the let of March, they found that in the
ledger it WAS alto red to the 3.. d ; and referring to
Vine's le Igor to see which was c ',Toot he (Mr.
Davlea) found that it was had on the 6th of March,
and True had put "paid " to it, although in Laver's
I•dger. It apputtiod as aa opea trausiotios, and Its