A FISH-HAWKER’S BANKRUPTCY

Evening Star, Issue 19773, 25 January 1928, Page 3

A FISH-HAWKER’S BANKRUPTCY

TO PAY 10/ IN THE £ A meeting ot creditors in the estate of Robert Scott Fisher, of Waikouaiti, fish hawker, was held at Dunedin this morning, and presided over by Mr AV. D. Wallace, official assignee. Nine creditors were represented. Mr J. "N. Smith appeared for the debtor. The tiled statement showed debts totalling £543 10s, and no assets. The sums due to unsecured creditors came to £SOB 18s 4d, the chief amounts being Paterson and Barr £lls 7s 2d, James Anderson £lO5 6s, A. Thomson (Port Chalmers) £43 15s,' A. and T. Burt £32 16s sd, Ford Motors £24 19s Id. Exhibition Demolition Company £24 14s 2d, J. Wren and Co. £2l 16s 2d. The other liability was a balance of £36 11s Bd, balance of debt to Davidson, Gillies, and Co. on the hire purchase of a motor van.

By his written statement the debtor said' that in 1920 be commenced building at Mosgiel and Green Island. He attributed his present position to doing so with insufficient capital, delays in operations, and heavy premiums, commission, and expenses. He bad to sell both properties. He went to Port Chalmers to start as a carrier. He paid £TOO deposit on a motor truck from Cossens and Black. After three months, he not making a do of it, the truck was seized. Me was out of work for three months. Mis wife borrowed £SO on the furniture, which he paid as a deposit on a motor van, and commenced fish hawking. He had just started when a judgment summons was issued and an order made. At a meeting of creditors in December 19 it was decided that lie shond pay £ls a month till he paid 10s in the £. During the holidays ho could get no fish owing to the illness of the man who supplied him. Then a warrant of commitment was issued, and he was forced to file. He was a married man with a wife and four children from two to twelve years of age. He did not. drink or gamble or live extravagantly. Examined on oath, the debtor said that his wife owned the furniture, some of which she bought and some given. He kept a wages book and a time book only. The loan on the Mosgiel property was about £147. He thought lie was” financially justified in going on with another property. When he bought the lorry he expected to_ make good at the carrying, but be did not get the work that was promised. Ho was fish-hawking two and a-half months, and expected to make up to £5 a day at it. Mr C. Johnston, who had supplied the debtor with fish, remarked thatjie thought Fisher could have made £7 a week profit on the hawking. The Assignee said lie did not see how Fisher could expect to pay his creditors as he had promised on such an income. , , To Air AY. L. Moore, who appeared for A. and T. Burt and other creditors, debtor said he did not know he was bankrupt when be commenced to build at Green Island. He know he was insolvent in April, 1927, when he had £IBO credit at the bank. .Ho did not take his creditors into bis confidence as to bis movements when be went to Port Chalmers. He spent_ £IOO of the £IBO on a motor van, with which he thought he could make money for his creditors. To the Assignee: His equity in the motor van was about £35, and if he could get a supply of fish he could make an offer of £1 a week to his creditors. Mr Johnston said lie would guarantee a supply. The Assignee said it would be advisablo for Fisher to do all he could before applying for his discharge. After discussion it was resolved that debtor’s discharge be opposed until he pays 10s in the £. _ The Assignee said he thought that sum rather’high for a man with four children.

One or two of the creditors said they had no wish to be bard on Fisher, but they wanted something more than promises, and the motion passed would not prevent a later motion in his favor if he did all he could.