IN BANKRUPTCY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 8 September 1923, Page 8

IN BANKRUPTCY.

ESTATE OF C. S. FONG

A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of C. S. Fong, formerly fruiterer of Hawera, was held in the office of the Deputy. Official Assignee, I Mr. R. S. Sage, yesterday. The D.O.A. 1 presided, and there were also present I Messrs. E. Shrimpton (Burgess, Fraser I and Co.), P. S. Rabone (C. H. Slater and A. B. Donald- and Co., Ltd.), C. J. Cuming (H. E. Partridge and Co.), i Moss (Johnston and Co.), A. Gorton (representing Mr. F,. Taylor), and Messrs. E. Taylor and R. Morrissey. i From correspondence read by the D.O.A. it appeared' that while in Hawera Fong was a tenant in respect of - two shops in Princes Street at £2 5s per week for a term of fire years from j April 12, 1920. He had sublet one for j £1 5s per week, and had paid all rent lup to Augpst 28, 1922. About the j beginning of November he left for 1 foreign parts while owing a considerable i amount of money. Before leaving Ha- , wera bankrupt installed Mr. E. Stan- j , combe in his shop to sell sufficient ' , goods to repay a debt of £25. owint; i to Staneombe. .and at the same time he i wrote a letter to the C 7erk of the Court I asking him to sell his business! and pay 1 liis creditors. From the proceeds of the j sale Stancombe received his £25 and i£3 for wages, Mr. Buckland received j £10 for rent. Foy and Smart received £3 3s, and PnrtvicW and Co. received the balanre of 19s Bd. A telegram received from A. B. , Donald, Ltd., a couple of days ago ; gave the D.O.A. the" information that i Fon^- had *fter leaving; Hawera been trading under the name of G. Sun at I Moi-v"t." iTIe. A. B. Donald, Ltd., | would stand for the expense of a public . examination. I A letter from the bankrupt to the D.O.A. read: First of all I kept'books '' of all accounts in Chinese writing, but i 1 afterwards I found my business was i J lose every week, so I had no mind to I j keep on the booking. Therefore I

could not inform to the Court of my , bankruptcy, and I had to leave Haj wera without any intimation. All in- ! voices, monthly statements, and re- | ceipts were left in Princes Street shop, ;so I'could not tell you how much I owed to the companies which I dealt i with. . When I left Hawera there were * plenty of stocks and fittings in the J shop, and I wrote two letters to the Court asking it to sell out my business to pay some of the companies. The principal reason for my bankruptcy was • starting anotler shop, being £5 per week rent, in High Street in the beginning of May last year. It was a

hard season for the fruit business, and furthermore the business was not so good as I expected. Three shipments of bananas were lost by having no 1 proper good banana room to keep them m, so they were all waste, and I^owed Messrs. A. B. Donald, of Auckland, jan account for £74 something. And i the other losses were by paying wages,'

rent, and damage on some kinds of fruit. At the final I found there was lose about £500, including my £200 at the start. The above-mentioned are

: true, and I got no money from the j business in my pocket. Now I pay so I much a month to the companies such as Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers, 10s every two weeks; Turner and Growers,

Ltd.j £1 every month; and I agree to pay A. B. Donald £10 every month. { Messrs. McGregor and McPherson, ! solicitors for Fong, in a letter siiggestj ing an adjournment of the present meeting said that bankrupt could not ; understand English well, and it was somewhat difficult to get all necessary } information and particulars from such

a.person. , - The D.O.A. said that as far as the creditors knew the bafiVrupt knew as much English as they did. Mr. itaoone saia it seemed to him that Fong had played a very "dirty trick" on the creditors, and he thought jhe should be pulled up for it. , If he were not other Chinamen would be doing the same thing. If a white man ■ had done what Fong had done he [ would have been prosecuted right away. ■He moved thajf the debtor be publicly ' examined, and that the case be transferred .to the Auckland jurisdiction. Mr. Shrimpton seconded. Messrs. Gorton and Morrissey spoke jin support of the motion, Mr. Morris- \ 6ey stating that while Fong was in Ha- : wera he was one of the best dressed men in the town, and he made several j trips to Wellington at considerable expense. The fact that the man had changed his1 name and was trading in another town showed that he was dishonest. ■ j The motion was carried. I Mr. Rahone said that one particular firm had been receiving money from Fong, knowing that he was insolvent, and he moved that the D.O.A. be asked to look into the question of the money . received by the particular firm after the date of bankruptcy. ! Mr. Cumin<r seconded, and the motion was carried. | The meeting tl'On adjourned sine die. i