"ONLY A BOY."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 28, 2 February 1928, Page 5

"ONLY A BOY."

YOUNG FRUITERER CRASHES.

TOTAL DEBTS, £214.

With total debts amounting to £214, Henry Bonne Smith, a fruiterer and confectioner, of Dargaville, met his creditors before Mr. G. X. Morris, Official Assignee, this morning. Bankrupt's schedule showed that his total debts were £214, his assets were £G2. and he had a deficiency of £152. Smith's written statement said that he had started as a fruiterer and confectioner in Dargaville in May, 1926, with a capital of £20. With "this he bought stock and fittings for the premises, for which he paid a rent of £2 a week. After he had been in business for two months the premises were sold and his tenancy was determined.

Bankrupt took another shop at a rent of £3 4/ a week. That was the only suitable shop in Dargaville at the time. Smith then started tea rooms in addition to his other business. In February, 1927, he found that the tea rooms were not paying, and he closed them, carrying on as a fruiterer and confectioner only. Bankrupt's whole trouble was the fact that the rent was too high. Business, which was dull in the winter, did not pick up in the summer, and his creditors began to press him, compelling him to file.

Smith had no previous experfenca Iri the confectionery and fruit business before he started the shop. Trig mother had had considerable experience, and advised him in his buying and pricing. There was a lengthy cross-examina-tion, in which Smith admitted that he was insolvent last February. *»--

Bankrupt said that at the nWtecnt he could make no offer, but if he succeeded in getting a job as a grocer** assistant, he would do his best to put matters ripht.

A creditor: A single nan %uch as yott should be able to pay at least 10/ ia the £1.

Mr. Morris: There is no doubt that he is not in a position to make an offer at present. I don't think that anybody hero wants to see this young boy prosecuted. He's only a boy. The creditors decided to* accept the statement of Smith. No action waa taken.