MEETING OF I. R. VIALOU'S CREDITORS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1210, 1 October 1867, Page 4

MEETING OF I. R. VIALOU'S CREDITORS.

A jieltino of the creditors in Mr. Vialou's estate took place yesterday, at the Auckland Hotel. About twenty gentlemen were present. Mr. J. W. Hurst was voted to the chair. Mr. Wynn, on behalf of Mr. Vialou, laid the state of matters before the meeting. Mr. Vialou had found himself from various causes un-' able to meet his engagements. One of his creditors, it was said, intended to take proceedings against him on the 4th October, and Mr. Vialou, anxious to prevent the available assets being swallowed up, by a single creditor had called the present meeting, and proposed that; the whole of the estate should be assigned for the benefit of all his creditors, and wound up in the manner they thought proper. If they did not all agree to this there was only one alternative, and which would be adopted, namely, for Mr. Vialou himself to file his petition for the protection of his creditors, prior to the Judge's departure for -the South. Mr. Wynn then read a statement, showing;

£ S. d. Unsecured liabilities . . , . 3510 18 4 Secured liabilities (on leases of High-at. and Auckland. Hotel, 11J years) . 1600 0 0 Preferential claims . . • . . 250 0 0 , Total . £5260 18 4 £ s. d. Assots—Furniture, stock, freehold property, horso and cart, . sanitary goods . . ' ... . 1476 8 8 Value of leaße . . . : . • . 1500 0 0 Deficiency . . 2284 9 8 —It might be asked, continued Mr. Wynn, howMr. Vialou brought himself into this position, and he .would reply : Ist, the enormous rent he was paying;' 2nd, high rate of interest (18t per cent) ; 3rd, great falling off in weekly receipts ; 4, depreciation in the value of lease ot the Auck-. land Hotel (for which £2,500 was offered some time ago), and the general depression of the times. : The following statement of losses was read ; — : ' > £ s. d. Premiums paid for purchase of business to Neill and Dcnglas . ' . 1004 0 0 Expended in building and improvements ' generally . . .' . , . 5025 0 0 Depreciation of purchase of fittings and furniture . ~ ■ . . . 1540 0 0 Bad debts , ... . 539 0 0 Lots on sale of Greyhound Hotel i •' . 101 0 0 Loss on sanitary goods imported . , ■ . 200' 0 0 i £8409 .0 l)

Mr. Eobekton : It was generally.believed that Mr. Vialou.had a valuable farm at the Whau; I want to know why it does not appear amone:the assets? : ' ' Mr. Vialou : The farm , never belonged to, me. >' i ■ . Mr. Bevebidge : Whose funds provided the® stook for that farm P

Mr. ViixouV My son owns that farm; it does

not belong to me. ' ' '' ' Mr. Beveridge : Before your son came hero to whom did it belong P ■ r . . - Mr. VialoU: To my.wife. _ ... Mr. Beveridge;: From what' source did your wifo have this separate estate? ; ..... Mr. Vialou, : From her father, and got it when I came out here. Mr. Beveeidoe : Had you tho control or it here ? ,

, Mr. ViAxotr: I hud: r. Mr. Bevejudge : Had! you- no lease-of :the "Greyhound"? '■ Mr. Vialou :, I had, but my .interest in it ceased on the 29th,July last., Mr. Bevekidoe : How did you then part with it ? ...... Mr. Yialou : I wanted money to meet my liabilities, and sold it to niy son. Mr. Bevehidge : For how much? Mr. Vialou : £574; it was paid to me in July. 11 ~ T . , Ihe Chairman : There is one question -L wisn to ask you, Mr. Vialou. How Mr, Alfred Vialou:became possessed., of this amount of money ? Mr. Vialou : I decline to answer that question; I might just as well ask-you how you became possessed of money.Mr. Beveridge : I eamc here from my client with authority to accept any fair and reasonable proposal, but from the way in which Mr. Wynn made his statement,; and the. unsatisfactory answers wo have received from Mr. Vialou lie could see little use in their prolonging the meeting. If it had not been for the threat of Mr. Wynn, he should have proposed that a careful enquiry should be made into the estate by a committee ; appointed by. "this meeting, but it appears that cannot be, done, as the caso. must be in Court to-morrow. We are not in a position to agree to any proposal from Mr. Vialou, and I now propose the dismissal of the meeting. Mr. Bucholz : I also'came quite inclined to listen to any fair proposal. Mr.'HuGHBS : I represent tho second largest creditor in tho estate and he was sure Mr. Nathan would be willing tojeo-operate with the other creditors, although much of tho debt is money borrowed irrespective of.trade, and a great quantity of the goods were only recently obtained. Mr. Gytvnne signified his willingness to reduce the rent from £600. to £<100 per annum. Mr Wynn denied threatening tho creditors. One of the creditors he understood intended to press Mr. Vialou to the last extremity, and it was to protect the other creditors that the present course had been taken. , . Mr. Beveeidge : Mr. Vialou should answer the question put by the Chairman. There would then be some possibility. of coming to an arrangement. , Mr. Vialou : It is not my. money; if that is a satisfactory answer. The Chairman : It has been remarked outside that Mr. Alfred Vialou has- recently arrived from the Mauritius with no money, and therefore I thought it right, to put tho question as,to how he came into this valuable property, worth £825. It was better that the matter should be stilted openly here than rumoured about the town. Auckland creditors had always shown their willingness to treat a debtor with leniency, when they were convinced that he " came down in an honest manner. He thought inquiry should be made into this estate and if on investigation it' should bear a "peculiar" character, the very strictest measures should be adopted. It had been said that the Captain of the " Flying Buck," had great difficulty in getting the passage money from Mr. Vialou (junr.,) and tliat the £20 for that purpose were paid by his father.

Mr. "V'ialou : It's a lie. The .Chairman ; .Such statements ,liavc been made, and until the matter was seen into and shown to bo a lie the creditors were entitled to have a committee of enquiry, should it then trurn out satisfactory I for one would do all in my power to assist Mr. Yialou not only in the present case, but in his future undertakings; Mr. Vialou : I have nothing to,fear from such an enquiry. , ,; It was then proposed that Mr. Roberton and •Mr. Bucholz should wait upon Mr. W. J. Young, to ascertain what course lie intended to adopt. These gentlemen shortly returned with an answer to tho effect that the caso should go into Court immediately, that "he would not suspend proceedings till the Judge returned from the South.' Nothing further was done, and tho meeting was then brought to a conclusion.