STOREKEEPER BANKRUPT

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27224, 16 December 1953, Page 13

STOREKEEPER BANKRUPT

CREDITORS’ MEETING ADJOURNS No statement had been received from bankrupt as to the cause of his bankruptcy, said the Official Assignee, Mr G. W. Brown, when a meeting of creditors of Bernard James Hayes Span j er, of Amberley, formerly a storekeeper and now a sawmill worker, began in Christchurch yesterday. Mr Brown said that he proposed asking Spanjer why he had not attended to these matters beforehand. “To bring books along to a meeting like this is just a waste of time,” said Mr Brown. Spanjer said that he had only received a notice of what was required of him in the mail on Friday. He said that he had a statement as to the cause of his bankruptcy with him. As it was “rather hopeless to look at the books and examine bankrupt intelligently,” Mr Brown suggested that the meeting be adjourned. The creditors decided to take this action. Mr Brown read a statement which he said showed that Spanjer had a deficiency of slightly under £l4OO. There were 33 unsecured creditors to whom £1361 10s 9d was owed. Two secured creditors were owed £656 8s lid, but with the estimated value of securities at £5O, the deficiency under this category was £606.8s lid. His total assets amounted to £573 is sd. In his statement Spanjer said that when he had purchased his business he had paid too much for goodwill. He had also had insufficient capital to carry on the business. As in a country business amounts owing to the business were outstanding for a while, he could not pay his accounts at the specified time with the result he could not get trade discounts, and his margins were lowered.