BANKRUPT AGENT

Evening Star, Issue 22883, 15 February 1938, Page 13

BANKRUPT AGENT

HO CREDITORS PRESENT There being no creditors present to form a quorum, the affairs of Samuel Murray Townley, an agent, of Green Island, who has been declared bankrupt, were left in the hands of the official assignee (Mr J. M. Adam) at the meeting yesterday afternoon. Bankrupt's debts were £944 6s Bd, and his assets £7O, leaving a deficiency of £874 6s Bd. The principal unsecured creditors were:—R. M. M'Kay and Co. (Wyndham), £lO6 19s 2d; D. M. M'Donald (Invercargill), £273 12s 6d; Elizabeth Townley, £419; Ivy Townley, £27 15s; Gladys Townley, £52. There were no secured creditors. - In his statement bankrupt said that until 1935 he was farming at Wyndham. He sold out in August of that year and received on the sale of the property £IOO in cash. At that time he owed £4OO or £SOO to sundry creditors, mostly to tradespeople. Besides this he owed his wife more than £4OO, being moneys she had previously from time to time advanced to him. He applied the £IOO in part payment of the trade debts. He had no other assets. At the end of that year he received about £3OO from his father’s estate, which he_ paid in its entirety to his wife in partial satisfaction of the moneys due to her by him. Bankrupt said he came to Dunedin and purchased from Alfred Clark Ltd. the New Zealand agency for a firm, Roger Errington Ltd., of England. He paid £I.OOO for the agency and £3OO for the stock then on hand. All this money was advanced to him by his wife for this purpose. He carried on the agency until a company, called Pine Products Ltd., was formed at the end of 1936 to take the agency over. Owing to non-delivery of supplies from England the business was not successful, as he was unable to fulfil some very profitable orders which had been received. When the company was formed he transferred the agency and stock in hand to the company, and was supposed to get in return £I.OOO in cash and 600 fully-paid shares in the company. When the transaction was comnleted he had received approximately £1,200 in cash for himself. This amount, with the exception of a small proportion applied to defray j legal costs, was paid by him, to Mrs Townley in partial payment of her advances to him. In August of that year his wife began a business for the selling and cutting of firewood. He helped her with the business, and was still doing this. _ The capital was all supplied by his wife, and the business was showing a very small return. He had received no cash for himself out of it, except a little, pocket money. He was unable to consistently perform manual work, as he suffered from neuritis. With the exception of the money owing by him to his wife, to his daughters, and to Mr M'Donald, under his judgment, all the other debts were incurred by him while he was on the farm at Wyndham and were for goods supplied for use on the farm or'domestic use. With the exception of the book debts shown in his return he had no assets, and. was unable to make any offer to his creditors. To the Assignee the bankrupt said that it was between August, 1935, and December, 1936, that the business was unprofitable. When it was sold to him a statement was drawn up by the vendor setting out the profit and loss of the business. At the end of 15 months he was approached to form the business into a company. The Invercargill agent, Mr M'Donald, claimed £SOO for commission, and bankrupt refused to give it to him. This amount for commission was later reduced to £3OO, but bankrupt thought that the responsibility for payment rested, not with him, but with _ the vendor, who had assisted in forming the business into the company. Bankrupt said he was proceeded against in the Supreme Court for the recovery of £3OO, and judgment was entered against him. The 600 shares were sold at his wife’s direction. The total loss on his farm was £2,800, and from the time of its disposal to the present he had never enough money to pay his debts. Throughout his business transactions the money had all been advanced by his wife, whom ho still owed £3OO. With the other creditors his wife had no dealings at all. There was still a business at Green Island run by his wife, but bankrupt had no connection at all with it from the financial aspect. Bankrupt stressed that had the shipments for Pine Products Ltd. been delivered at the scheduled date he would have made a profit of £1,764, thus allowing him to continue the business. The affairs of bankrupt, who was represented by Mr A. G. Neill, wore left in the hands of the Official Assignee.