Transcription of 1873 Administration Bond for James Stumbles by Ros Haywood:

In the Supreme Court of New Zealand Otago and Southland District

Know all men by these presents that we Ellen Stumbles of Port Chalmers in the Province of Otago and Colony of New Zealand Widow George Conder Hitchcock of Port Chalmers aforesaid Settler and George Stumbles of Timaru in the Province of Canterbury and Colony aforesaid Contractor are held and firmly bound unto Edward ffrancis Ward Esquire Registrar at Dunedin for the Otago and Southland District of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in the sum of six hundred pounds for which payment to be well and truly made unto the said Edward ffrancis Ward or to the Registrar for the time being of the said District we do and each and every of us doth bind ourselves and every of us and the heirs executors and administrators of each and every of us jointly and severally firmly by these presents to witness our hands and seals this seventeenth day of December one thousand eight hundred and Seventy three

Whereas by an order made by His Honor Henry Samuel Chapman Esquire Judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand for the judicial District of Otago and Southland date the second day of December one thousand eight hundred and Seventy three it was ordered the Administration of the personal estate effects and credits of James Stumbles late of Port Chalmers aforesaid Deceased should be granted to the said Ellen Stumbles widow of the said deceased And whereas the said George Conder Hitchcocks and George Stumbles have agreed to enter into a Bond with the said Registrar in the sum of six hundred pounds conditioned for the due performance by the said Ellen Stumbles of her duties as administratrix Now the condition of the above written Bond is that if the above bounden Ellen Stumbles shall exhibit and file in the offices of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of New Zealand and Dunedin aforesaid an Inventory of all the personal estate effects and credits of the deceased which shall come into her possession or into the possession of any other person by her order or for her use on or before the second day of March next And shall well and truly administer the same according to law And also shall and do render and file in the office of the said Registrar a true and just account of her administration of the said Estate effects and credits on or before the eighteenth day of November 1874 or on or before such further or other day as may from time to time be ordered by a Judge of this Honorable Court then this Bond shall be void and of none effect but otherwise remain in full force

Signed Sealed and Delivered
Dr James [illegible] JP
Ellen Stumbles
Geo C Hitchcock
George Stumbles

in the presence of
Robert Allan Timaru