Aislabie’s Bankruptcy.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 23, 4 August 1887, Page 3

Aislabie’s Bankruptcy.

CREDITORS’

A. SOSTiJS of Mr Aislabie’e creditors wm held oil Tuesday afternoon at the office of the Deputy Official Assignee (Mr Croft). Present; Messrs Skeet, Walker, Turton, Cooper, Beatson, Poneford. Kane, E. Chrisp, Stubbs, Teat, Ward, ErSssey, Finn, Good, Nolan, and a number of others. The bankrupt having been sworn, deposed l filed through pressure of inj' .creditors. My book debts are *650. I estimate thetn f;o : .produce £6OO. My furniture I estimate at £25. I have no other assets at present I have a statement to make as to other assets in the estate. About the middle of May I found money was t>oi Coining in fast enough to keep the business going. I applied to Mr A. McDonald; iny largest creditor, and asked him to give me some assistance. He thought he had given me enough assistance already. I said some of my creditors were suing me and I did not wish money to he wasted in legal expenses. I suggested that he had better put in his nephew, Mr J. McDonald, so as to give me time to set in the book debts ; I should then, I thought, be able to pull through, in which “case 1 would pay Mr A. McDonald £250 off the debt I owed him. I believe that Mr J. McDonald is willing to give up the bill of sale to my creditors. Mr Teat asked how it was that the bankrupt gave a bill of sale when he knew he wa» in a state of bankruptcy. The debtor : The £250 was paid for the business in the first instance. It was part of the original purchase money. I gave Mclntosh £B5O for the business. I wanted to keep the business intact. The £250 went to wipe off a part of Mr A. McDonald’s account. By the Assignee: I owed Mr A. McDonald about £7OO. Mr Teat (examining the books) : I Bee no bill book here, nor a bank book ; this is not a perfect set of books. The debtor: lam not a book-keeper. Butchers’ books are always very simple and not like those of a merchant. By Mr Turton; Since I gave the bill of sale, Mr J. McDonald has carried on the business for himself. He (J. McDonald) will give up the bill of sale. By Mr Ward: The reason is that Mr A. McDonald is prepared to stand the loss. Mr Teat asked whether the debtor would make an offer. The debtor said he had no offer to make. To a creditor: My trap is among the assets to be handed over to the creditors. In answer to Mr Teat, the debtor said he had no other offer to make. He owed Mr A. McDonald about £7OO. The £250 came off that. To Mr Chrisp: I still owe Mr A. McDonald £450. The bill of sale was merely an amicable arrangement for the benefit of the creditors. Mr McDonald’s debt was reduced to £450. I did not file then because I was relying upon the book debts to clear me. Mr J. McDonald has nothing to do with Mr A. McDonald in the business. Debtor was here examined at some length as to the keeping of his books. To Mr Teat: Had no capital when X started. Have been in business six

years, To Mr Chrisp: Mr A. McDonald lent me the money to start with, the amount being £B5O. Have paid him £2OO on account. The promissory notes were drawn by me and endorsed by Mr McDonald. To Mr Teat: Mr McDonald charged me no interest at all. Mr Teat asked how the debtor could account for the state the business was in. He (Mr Teat) said he could not understand how the loss wm bo much. The debtor explained that the price of meat was much less than it was three years ago, he then got fourpence a pound from the hotels, and now it was only 2|d, Mr Teat said be did not think that the debtor had traded carefully ; if he had done so he would not have had to have filed. The debtor: Well Mr Teat you may know all about storekeeping, and you seem to know all about butchering, but you failed once yourself. The Assignee: You must not go into these questions Mr Aislabie. The debtor: Mr Teat has brought the retort on himself. The matter then dropped, and the debtor was examined at some length by Mr Chrisp relative to a statement made to Mr Livingstone. To a creditor: I told Mr Reynolds that I thought the book debts were very large, about £l5OO. The statement was a rough guess because I had not gone into the accounts fully. A further examination by Mr

Chrisp then followed. To Mr Kane: I only collected enough book debts to pay for wages. To Mr Chrisp: I bought stock from Mr Locke and sold it to Mr McDonald. The transaction was completed at Makauri. It was not agreed that Mr J. McDonald should pay the money direct. I was paid the money (£4l) by order. The Bank stopped £2O. This money was advanced to young McDonald by hie uncle, and £2O was stopped out oi this order. I got £2l in cash. The £2O was stopped for money due to the Bank. The other £2l was paid to Mr Turton on a writ which Mrs Wall had put in. Mr Walker, who had acted for Mr Locke, said he did not mind waiting until the end of June. There was a contra account of £9 against Mr Locke. I gave a cheque for Ll 6, but it had to be destroyed because the sheep were wrongly delivered. To Mr Teat: The horses, saddles and bridles are all in the bill of sale. Have no gun. Have had no servants, and have not lived expensively. Never spent much in liquor and wine, and never kept any liquor in my house, at least very little. After further discussion it was decided to adjourn the meeting until Wednesday in order that Mr J. McDonald might be asked whether he would give up the bill of sale.

SECOND MEHING. The adjourned meeting of the Bf6dlte»» was yesterday afternoon, several Cfe3iisr» being P reee “ t ~A fliscussiofi toblt .jjlftet? , 0 the best mariner St realising vs the. best advantage, it being evehfuttlly decided that the meeting stand further adjourned for a week, but should the Assignee close matters with Mr John McDonald as to his giving up the bill ef sale over the butcher’s shop, traps, harpess, &c., before then the Ass-gnee Will call a meeting at an earlier date.