A SOCIETY’S LIQUIDATION

Evening Star, Issue 19326, 12 August 1926, Page 2

A SOCIETY’S LIQUIDATION

raMTIOI! OF BOMS SOUSHT

Not all the shareholders in' Die Dunedin Industrial Co-operative Society are satisfied with the scheme of voluntary liquidation entered into some lime ago. A meeting was held in the Y.M.C.A.

last night, Mr R. Bovin presiding over an attendance of .more . than thirty. The meeting wa.s addressed by Mr G. S. Thomson, investigating accountant appointed by the shareholders who wore nob satisfied with the liquidation agreed to by a shareholders’ meeting last year. Tho position, as stated last night, wa.s that £SO was required for an order from the Supreme Court to get the books from their present custody. To get that order the signatures of shareholders wore also required; but the names of the people could not be got without tho boohs. The meeting did not start ,111.1 after f) n.m.

The Chairman: Tho case looks hopeless. 1 have been on tho committal, and I think it has done all it can do. Mr Thomson thinks he can see a way out, so wo will hear what, he lias to say. Mr Thomson: I don’t know that 1 can see a way out. I wish I could. He went on to say that ho pulled out of this society long ago. The directors, he said, should come to light with every penny, for they were tho trustees of tho society. Mr Sykes since tlicdr last meeting had refused to let them seo tho books, though he and Mr Mitson had been appointed by tho shareholders to take the society into liquidation. Ho was instructed to apply to Messrs Sykes and Mitson for tho books. The reply that ho got from Mr Sykes (he was sorry he did not have it there) stated that he had called the creditors’ committee together—not the society’s committee, but the creditors’ commit-tee—-and had got instructions from them that the society was not to see the books. The speaker said ho wrote again asking how Mr Sykes came to ho acting cm the part of the creditors, and warned him to be very careful in his reply, as it wa.s possible the corlespondence might ho published. He had not replied. Mr Thomson attacked what he termed the unbusinesslike methods that had been followed, and recalled what one of the directors had said at the Trades Hall meeting. A Member: He said “ I am not a business man; but I know there has been backstairs work.” Mr Thomson: Quite right. He was not a business man, so he had no right to be there. From £1,700 to £I,BOO was lost last year, proceeded tho speaker, and that in a society controlled by a board of directors, with a manager at £6OO a year. What did the directors do? A Member: They sold out with the consent of the society.

Mr Thomson said there were some ! who had fought him when he suggested taking the matter to court. The speaker referred specifically to more ' than one transaction which ho held to bo unbusinesslike. It was not necessary I for him to go further. Ho had shown : cause enough for action to be taken; £SO must be raised for the legal costs. ; “It will bo said,” he went on, “ that ■ I am vindictive; that this is the result 1 of Labor differences. Not so, I have too much respect for myself as a ccrti- i lied accountant to do that. If I have Labor differences to speak about I will , deal with them from the political platform ; in this matter I will speak as a j business man.” They had been pro- j vented from getting their information. , Tho source had been j A Member: Dried up. | Mr Thomson: Quite right. You people want no stigma Idft on tho La- ; bor movement. The co-operative movement is part of the Labor movement. It is a great thing, worth fighting for , and keeping clean. How can we expect to get Labor men returned to Parliament if wo cannot manage ouir own Labor business? He explained that £lO or £l2 had been raised out of the £SO necessary to meet the legal costs. Mr Cave (the registrar of the Supreme Court) had said the costs would be £SO; not £SOO, as was told to the shareholders. lb the shareholders could only realise the need there seemed for these things to be gone into, they would not hesitate to pay 5s each if necessary. They should be able to get at least £SOO to £I,OOO of the lost money. Mrs Matheson: Who are the creditors? Mr Thomson: I cannot give much information without the hooks. Messrs

J. Rattray and Son, and Fraser and Co. are creditors; and the largest creditor is Distributors, Litd., to whom £612 is owing. Mir Westfield: Is it not a fact that the meeting decided to wind up voluntarily P Mr Thomson: Yes. But the meeting on Christmas Eve was at a most inopportune time. Mr Westfield: I know that Mr Thomson is doing fine work for us; but let us play tlio game. Mr Thomson; Were yon not told that the court costs would be about . £SOO, and that the official liquidator would merely skim over the thing? Voices: Yes; we were told that. Mr Thomson: Then voluntary liquidation was agreed on only_ after the - shareholders were bluffed in the manner I have indicated. Mr Westfield: That may be so. A Woman: People are getting bills who don’t owe money. A Member: Was it not all cash? The Chairman : We have got no further ahead. We want to know how wc can get £SO and the shareholders’ .signatures for the order of the court; but we can’t get the names unless wo get the books by order of the court. If wo do not get whole-hearted support wo may as well drop it right ' l Mr Caskio: All the crowd are heartsick of it. The Chairman: The present committee is at its wits’ cud. Will someone give us a resolution? Mr Westfield : It seems to mo that three-quarters of the shareholders are against the proposal. We seem to bo running against a stone "wall. It is a forlorn hope, and I think wc should turn it up. Mr Thomson: 1 agree with Mr Westfield. Wo arc up against it. I think wo should give it up and decide what is to bo done with the money in hand. A Woman: If someone stood you the £4O still needed, would you go on with it ? Mr Thomson: Yes; if the shareholders wished me to. “Then I will give a-half,” said she, , “ if someone else will do the same.” Mr Thomson: Wc do not want too I much to be borne by one member. There is no guarantee that tho money will-be got back. A motion by Mr Westfield to abandon the whole, thing found only five j supporters, and was last. It was decided to call another mcetI ing, to be held in the Trades Hall at 7.30 p.m. next Wednesday. ,