CAMBRIDGE BANKRUPTCY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 174, 25 July 1922, Page 3

CAMBRIDGE BANKRUPTCY.

MEETING OF CREDITORS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) CAMBRIDGE, Monday. A meeting of creditors in the estate of Florence Ethel Smith, fruiterer, of Cambridge, was held at Hamilton today 'before the Deputy Official Assignee, , Mr. H. V. Banson. There were only i two creditors present, and Mr. W. H. . King, solicitor, on behalf of certain i Auckland solicitors, moved for an adjournment to Auckland, where the bulk of the creditors live. Bankrupt's statement showed amounts owing to unsecured creditors at £4G2, with stock valued at £250. Bankrupt .--id she entered business as a fruiterer entirely on her own account, as ncr husband was working j at the time as a casual labourer. She | thought she could make a little profit, although she had no capital to start on. She paid approximately £5 for the goodwill of a business in Victoria Street, owned by Mr. Durham, arranging to j give the first week's takings as a deposit. She attributed her failure to •the general slump, which made fruit and confectionery a luxury. The termination of her lease also occasioned her loss iby causing her to take over another shop in a worse stand. She also bought "badly „t times, and suffered a loss through this.

Questioned by the Deputy Official Assignee as to how she came to assess the value of her stock at £250, when an experienced valuer put it down at £95 at the outside, bankrupt said she considered the lousiness as a business was worth something. She had put in 11 months' hard labour to work up a connection, and felt that if allowed to remain on she could yet make good. The Deputy Official Assignee thought there was absolutely no chance of this, as the net result of 11 months' work was a loss of over £300. Bankrupt: Yes, and the value of my own labour, and that of my husband and son over a certain period. Bankrupt, in answer to a question, said she 'banked her money in the name of Durham and Smith, and she therefore ordered her stocks in their joint names. Mr. Sanson said it was quite obvious that Mrs. Smith was insolvent when she took over the new shop, and that at no time did she know how she stood. She should at some time have tallied lup her stocks. The Auckland creditors would probably have something to say lon the matter. Personally he did not think Mrs. Smith had done what she I might for the protection of the creditors. The meeting was adjourned to Auckland.