HIGH STOCK PRICES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 18, 23 January 1933, Page 3

HIGH STOCK PRICES.

BROTHERS BANKRUPT. CREDITORS SYMPATHETIC. BUTCHERY AT PENROSE. As the case was considered to be one of 'misfortune resulting from bad debts, losses on sales, additional competition and the general effects of the depression, the creditors of three bankrupt brothers, James Cyril, Norman Wallace and Harold Travess Shanks, who have been carrying on a butchery business at Penrose for some years, decided at a meeting before the acting Official Assignee, Mr. G. W. Brown, this morning to facilitate their discharge. A supervisor, a representative of the largest creditor, was appointed to assist the assignee in the disposal of the bankrupts' assets. One creditor said that he was satisfied that they had made an earnest endeavour to pay their >vay as they went along.' The schedule disclosed a deficiency of £30 1/SJ, the, total debts being £180 19/11 and total assets £150 18/01. The amount owing to unsecured creditors was £180 13/3 and to secured creditors £114 13/3. In a joint statement bankrupts set forth that they commenced business at Penrose in 1925, and that all had gone well until 1929, when the price for livestock took an unexpected rise, and remained at a higher level for some time. Bad debts and losses on sales reduced ■their capital to practically nothing. A five years' lease made their position gradually worse. "In April, 1930, we sold out for £150, but could not get a clearance from the lease.- In 1931 the lease came back to us, with a claim for £45 for rent in arrears by the late tenants," they declared. About this time the brothers owed the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile about £200, which was now reduced to £60, and many other accounts reduced at the same time. "We have tried hard to meet our liabilities, but of late several small creditors have pressed for payment," they stated. Keen competition from meat auctions and a reduced turnover on account of the depression made it difficult to meet their creditors' demands, and so they had been obliged to file.