AN AUCTIONEER'S BORROWINGS.

NZ Truth, 15 March 1924, Page 3

AN AUCTIONEER'S BORROWINGS.

And What Became of the Money. (From "Truth's" Palmerston North Rep.) "The biggest bungling bankruptcy." is how one creditor described tlie affairs of the bankrupt estate of Joseph S. Munro. late auctioneer of Palmerttton North, when having a straight talk to the bankrupt himself at a meeting of creditors held m the Courthouse before lho Deputy Official Assignee, Mr. G. K. Dempsy, last week. The history of the business briefly ls that Munro commenced In 1907 In partnership with another man, and later bought his friend out. carrying on till six years ago. when he found he was not doing too well and resorted to the borrowing method of sustenance. A man named Gillanders came along and Munro took him on as storoman and borrowed from him £500 at G per rent. He was nt that time carrying on a milking machine agency, but George Simpson .took this over and lent Munro £COO, the In tier promising to nporj a separate banking ncrount and keep the monoy exclusively for that branch of the hnnlnoMS. Thnt It «eema ho f:ilU<l to do. and tt transpired nt the meeting that a month or mo :»ft?r getting the money from Simpson, .Munro nartod to re-pay Gillundcrs^ giving him £100 ln

March, 1922. and a further £200 m July of the same year. PIANO BUT NO HARMONY. Mr. W. Thomson) one of the creditors, questioned bankrupt closely on some financial dealings he had had with Mrs. Thomson. Munro admitted that on June 6 last he had borrowed £75 from Mrs. Thomson, the arrangement being tha^ he was to put m a further £75, and with the accumulated £150 they were to purchase furniture and share the profits. The total profits from this little gamble were about £ 30. He repaid Mrs. Thomson £45 r leaving £30 of the loan and £15 of the profits outstanding, and then offered a piano to the good lady as security. Mr. Thomson: Did you sell the piano a few days later to another man named Ritchie?— Yes, I understood that Mrs. Thomson had refused to accept it as security. Did she intimate as much to you? — No, but I thought you said something of the kind to me on one occasion. Further questioned by Thomson, the bankrupt admitted that he had received a milking plant from the questioner to sell, and had placed it m the hands of Simpson, who disposed of it for £ 70, and handed £65 of this to Munro, who, for some reason unstated, consented to the deduction. Then, instead of handing the money to the? rightful owner — Thomson— or putting it into the bank until, called for, he just simply forgot where it went to, ho record of it being found m the bank book. '■ INSUFFICIENT BOOKS. So it went on, and at last even the placid D.O.A. got a bit riled and had a go at the bankrupt. He said Munro had kept neither cash book nor ledger, and therefore had not rendered a correct account of his stewardship, having admitted ' with-holding cheques from the bank. ■ £3000 had gone west altogether, and nobody seemed to, know where it had gone.j He then unfolded to the creditors the rueful 'tale that the unsecured creditors had been increased from £1894- to £2250, while only £44 had been collected of £128 on the books. The credit balance, after some of the assets had been realised upon, wa,s £245, but out of this the D.0.A., the lawyers, and then rent and wages had first call, so -he couldn't see a prospect of a divvy. ' Thomson had a bid to establish himself as a preferential creditor, and when the D.O.A. put the ,damper on htm, he started off on the bankrupt again, and called him an untruthful and dishonest person,; and a lot more. But this will not retrieve Gillanders and Simpson's money, so the meeting'decided that the D.O.A. have another go at the books, and then bring Munro under examination again.