CLERK’S £1,000 OVERDRAFT

Grey River Argus, 18 January 1939, Page 12

CLERK’S £1,000 OVERDRAFT

BANK GIVEN NO'SECURITY. HUNTING AND HORSE DEALING. LONDON, December 21. The representative of a bank was unable to explain at a meeting of creditors in Manchester yesterday how a young Bolton clerk, earning £7 a week, had been able to obtain an overdraft of over £lOOO. The debtor was Alexander Neville Rawson, who had lodged at Hartington Road, Bolton, and who was stated now to be in Australia. Mr P. M. Milward, Official Receiver, told the only creditor present—a bank representative—that there were 12 claims amounting to £l2BO. According to his information Rawson had left the country on September 24, and he had seen a cablegram from Melbourne and another, as well as a letter from Sydney. The handwriting appeared to be that of Rawson. A passage in the letter suggested that it was his intention to go to New Zealand in the near future. Mr Milward suggested that Rawson had gone away in order to escape the payment of his debts. He seemed, he said, to have lived a rather reckless and extravagant life, because in addition to a substantial sum he had received from his mother’s estate, he got into debt.to the extent of over £lOOO. That indebtedness had arisen since last February. The bank had no security, and the debt formed part of a total indebtedness which amounted to something in the region of £2161. BOUGHT A STEEPLECHASER. There were said to be £391 owing for the purchase of a 'horse—he thought a steeplechaser— livery charges, etc., £270 for clothing- and other personal requirements, £176 as hire-purchase payment on a motorcar, garage, etc., £75 for money borrowed and £33 for hotel expenses. His only assets were a policy for about £l9 under a welfare scheme and £3 10s, which a Bolton man had handed over. There had been two executions, one for a sum of £7O from a moneylender and another from a Bolton jeweller. He had been living in lodgings, and while at work as a clerk employed by a company in Bolton had been receiving £7 a week. Apart from that he did not think he had any other income, and there was no doubt that he had been living an extravagant life, indulging in hunting and dealing in horses. The result was that he got into debt and seemed to have left his usual pla.ee of abode in order to avoid and defeat his creditors. UNSECURED OVERDRAFT. 'The bank representative said he had no information as to how Rawson had obtained his overdraft without any security,- and Mr Milward said it was rather extraordinary for n young man of 26, without, any responsibility, to be able to obtain an overdraft of the amount.he had. Mr Mil ward told the representative that in a little while Rawson would be called upon to attend his public examination, and if he did not attend he (Mr Milward) might have to apply for a warrant, but whether it would be effective was another matter. It did not seem much good getting him back if he had not got anything, added Mr Milward. The Official Receiver said that two cheques had gone through the bank last year. One was for £370 and the other for £225, and both were in respect of horse transactions. affairs were left in the hands of the Official Receiver.