LOSS ON CONTRACTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 223, 4 July 1939, Page 4

LOSS ON CONTRACTS.

BANKRUPTCY OF PLASTERER.

MEETING OF THE CREDITORS

A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of George Frederick Sharp, of Ashburton, plasterer, was held in the Ashburton ,Courthouse this morning, the Official Assignee (Mr G. W. Brown) presiding. There was an attendance of three creditors.

Bankrupt was represented by Mr C G. de C. Drury.

The statement of bankrupt’s affairs showed that unsecured creditors totalled £466 9s lid, secured creditors £52 10s, less securities £125, leaving a surplus to contra of £72 10s. Assets totalled £216 7s 7d, including £136 14s book debts estimated to produce this amount, leaving a deficiency of £250 2s' 4d.

In hjs sworn statement bankrupt said that he started business at Ashburton in May, 1936. He had had 13 years? experience, working for wages. He had a small amount of capital, and in his first year on his own account, suffered a severe set-back as a result of losses on contracts, the cause, to a certain extent, of niisjudgment in estimates and unforeseen delays in the execution of the work. During his second year he had to employ' a large number of men, and did fairly good business, but the heavy wages he had to pay seriously affected his profits. His personal drawings throughout had been small, and he attributed his position mainly to the heavy wages paid since he started on his own account.

In reply to questions, bankrupt said his starting capital was a sum of £SO, which he borrowed and which had been repaid, and £22 of his own money. The books, which were kept for him, showed a profit of £l7B 7s lid to August, 1937, and his drawings amounted to £l9O 13s lid in that time. He did not know anything about book-keeping, and a public book-keeper had done that work for him. In the last year he had drawn £3 5s or £3 6s a week.

The Official Assignee stated that goods sold from September last year to the present amounted to £BO3 14s 6d and the drawings by cheque totalled £B6B 7s 4d. The books had not been posted since 1937, and bankrupt had probably been under a misapprehension as to the state of his affairs.

The winding-up of the estate was left in the hands of the Official Assignee. A motion that the creditors oppose bankrupt’s discharge till he has paid 10s in the £1 involving ■ the payment of about £IOO, was not seconded.