AUCTIONEER'S FAILURE

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 42, 18 August 1922, Page 3

AUCTIONEER'S FAILURE

♦ I SLACKNESS OF ( BUSINE66

A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of Alfred Thomas' Trendle, auctioneer and'land, estate, and commission agent, was held yesterday. The Official Assignee, Mr. B. Tansley, presided ' ' Bankrupt, id his filed statement, ex plained that he had commenced business in Wellington as an auctioneer and land and estate agent on Ist M*y, 1918, with a capital of £195 He had a monthly tenancy of his business premises m Cuba street at * rental oi £19 17s 6d a month. Dm ing 1918 he borrowed £45 from his stepson, M. Anderson, and he did farriy well up to Ist May,11919, his l __~c* *~- +k<. -a^mr Kaiiut aroyroxi-

,net profit for the year wsng »PF™»»mately £360, out of which he repaid tho loan of £45. Dunng 1920 hw business inoreaaed in volume, but the pronto Were not so great •»in the previous, year, onW amounting to £260. ftmrng , 19121 he made a net profit of £500. sFor the/*** ended Ist May, 1922, on acoomt of the slump, which neoasntated him selling goods below actual cost, he made a, low of £456, having borrowed on hi* life insurance poiicws £140. to enable hm to carry on. Dunns the year he lost £100 through purchasing furniture in a house urC'yde quay, which he agreed to rent from a Mw. Wilkinson, on the understanding that h« should get a lease that he anticipated could sell with a reasonable profit to himself, and in the meantune provide him with a home at a cheap rental. After bemg in possession for threeTnonths, Mrs Wilkinson refused to give him a lease, saying she required B. i \ri. 1 — V &n Jf **i#l tut kfldf

the placfc'to live in herself, and. toe baa. ,to get out. He wa« obliged to sell the furniture for £115, while he had paid Mrs. 'Poison (the owner of the furniture in the house) £265 for it. .He attributed hi»' position principally to the «lackness of business, caused by the slump and the shortage of capital on which he had to carry on. In addition, he was carrying on a land agent's business until 31st December last, which was an absolute drain on his auctioneering business. The debts to unsecured creditors were shown as £304 7s '4d, while the stock in trade was set down at £80, book debte £160, cash in bank £8 7s 6d, total asset*. £238 7s 6d, leaving » deficiency of £65 19s lOd. , ' i The principal unsecured creditors were: M'Crae, Ltd., manufacturers, £44 19s lOd; B. L. Hart, manufacturers, £47 12s 9d; Macky, Logan, and Caldwell, Ltd. £66 5s 2d; Mrs Collins (house rent), £29; O. W. Price,* auctioneer, £20; A. A. Corrigan,, rent of business premises, £19 17s 6d. i > NThe Official Assignee drew attention to a claim from the Government for £300 for a bond the bankrupt was stated to have entered into. > . Mr. J. O'iDonovan, bankrupt's solicitor, explained that it was a bond entered into by Trendle three years ago in order to allow his 'brother to secure his discharge <rom the New Zealand Expeditionary Force inEngland, and indemnifying the Government from any expense which such discharge might entail. Bankrupt said he understood that the signing of the bond was a mere formality. It appeared, however, that £150 had been paid towards the maintenance of Trendle's brother and his wife The Official Assignee said that Trendle's present position was dearly one of bad luck He would collect the book debts and realise upon the assets. The meeting was adioumed sine die.