MORE DISCLOSURES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1095, 6 April 1911, Page 4

MORE DISCLOSURES.

Another exposure of the methods have grown up in certain of ntr State Departments under the IVaed regime is made this morning. IVc refer to the conduct of the affairs of a bankrupt estate placed in ;he hands of the Official Assignee for liquidation. The public, \vc should :lunk, is fairly well seasoned nowidays to such disclosures as were Tiade by the creditors at yesterday's necting. But while this may be so, it would be a very wrong thing tc treat the matter lightly. It is_ indeed a most serious one when viewid in conjunction with other happenings in this same Department, and in relation to the general attitude of Ministers in assuming a right to dispense patronage to then friends and supporters at the public expense. At a recent meeting oi creditors strong protest _ was made against the action, or inaction, oi the Official Assignee in dealing witl: the affairs of a certain bankrupt. We commented at the time on the growing tendency in commercial circles to ignore the State Bankruptcy Department in favour of private liquidation of assigned estates. Yesterday's meeting afforded a further insight into the causes which, have led to this new order of things, and also brought to light what cannot ba regarded as otherwise than a very undesirable, if not improper state of things. It was shown during the discussion that for some reason the Official Assignee placed ir the hands of a certain firm of lane agents and auctioneers—Messrs. T K. Macdonald and Co.—the proper tics of the bankrupt for disposal This step was open to question at the outset on the ground that there were creditors in the estate whe were auctioneers of repute, and whe certainly were more deserving o: consideration than an outside firm If there was any money to be made by way of commission for selling the stock in the estate.by auction, thei creditors, rather than outsiders should be given the opportunity o: earning that commission. But this phase of the proceeding! is not so important as the persist ence which the Official Assignee': Department has shown in insisting that no one but the firm of T. K Macdonald and Co. shall have : chance of disposing of the proper ties in the. estate. Worse still, the Official Assignee's Department is al leged to have refused to supply in formation to two firms having pro spectivc buyers for the propertytbey were in each case referred to T K. Macdonald and Co. What pos sible justification can there be foi this extraordinary attitude 1 Wro this remarkable solicitudo for T. K Macdonald and Co. '? It is so mud nonsense to say- that it is undesirable that .more than one firm of lane agents shall be given the opportun ity of finding a buyer for a property which the creditors in a bankrupt estate are anxious to sell. If the. only pretext that the Officia Assignee is able to put forward foi his curious persistence in kecpins this business solely in the hands o T. K. Macdonald and Co. for tin long period stated in the reportsince 1009—wc can only say it is ; very lame and unconvincing one Moreover, the expense incurred ii handling and disposing of the as sets under the arrangement thus en tercel into appears surprisingly large. It was known from the out set, wo believe, that the estate woulc return to the creditors 20s..in the & and leave a surplus; but this is ne reason why the winding up of the estate should be prolonged anc money should be frittered away ir expensive advertising and commissions. Mit. Townsend—who is de serving of public thanks for havinj undertaken what is necessarily ar unpleasant task in exposing the matters under review—dealt so ablj with this question of the cost of dis posing, or attempting to dispose, o; the assets that we need not refer tc it further here. The Official As signce is very prolific in excuses He appears to have an unfortunate knack of getting ill, or ol being un able to see his legal adviser, or o: being misunderstood, or he has some equally good excuse to put forwarc when angry creditors complain. Bir excuses of this kind do not help the creditors very much. Wc shoulc very much like to know what thi Minister in charge of the Bank ruptcy Department thinks of yester day's disclosures. Does he approve of T. K. Macdonald and Co. beinj specially singled out for the favour! of the Department, while other auc tioncers and land agents are passee over in the manner described? Foi a- long time past there has been serious dissatisfaction amongst husinesi people having dealings with thi Official Assignee's office in Welling ton, and it is well that the Ministoi should realise that breaking poini has been reached.