E.C. EARLE'S BANKRUPTCY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8785, 27 January 1892, Page 5

E.C. EARLE'S BANKRUPTCY.

DEBTOR TO BE PUBLICLY EXAMINED. Ay adjourned meeting of the credibors jj. Bbone2or U. Earle, of Onehunga, was he ab bho offices of the Official Assignee y& torday morning. There wero present, ti eo debtor and his solicitor (Mr. F. J. Har ig inond), and Messrs. J. P. Campbell (repr 111 senting the creditors), John Earle, Han f e inond (Dr. Scobb), Bycroft, Keill (Laxoi e, !Neill, and Co.), William Earlo, Bajjer, an u, J. C Morrin. is Meears. W. Earl and R. Neill, who ha is been requested by the previous meeting t ' e examine the debtor's books, reported thf they had found the same in a very unsabii e factory stnte. They did nob furnish thoi l ® with particulars to enable them to mak ( y anything like an exact balance of the ac h counts as at 30th November and 31at De b, cember, 1891. The cash book had bee d partially destroyed by fire, and so renderei »- practically valueless. The last entry wouli »f seem to have been made on the 21etNovem e her, *\o n v which date no c»sh-book appearei *? to have been kept. No counter-book ap peared to have been kept after Deceinbe J' 7th. In fact there were no proper record vor that month. There was a journal con a ti in ing entries of sales for December a evidently copied from another book, bu r the original waa nob forthcoming. Th( 5 account** appeared to stand as follows :— 1 Stock on the 30th of November, £213 i plant, £60; book debt*, £233. Stock or 1 the 31st of December, £107 ; plant, £35 book debts, £29(>. Allowing £100 for book debts and plant overvalued in November, . there remained an apparent deficiency oi . £119. This appeared to have taken place f between tho Ist December and 13th Janu i ary. , In answer to questions pub by Mr. J. P. 1 Campbell, tho debtor stated that the cash 2 book had been partially burnt in December 3 last. A quantity of papers and books J wero destroyed ab the same bime, but he j could not state bho cause of the (ire. He j could nob say how it happened that the ! December books alone wero burnt. Peri haps some of them had been taken away, s Between November 21 and the date of the i fire the cash entries wore made, he believed, i in the counter books. During that time ' tho cash book waa not posbed. He did not 1 remember looking to boo whethor bhe ' counter books were destroyed. The entries ( in the day book produced wero, he thought, original entries, and not copied from an- [ other book. He had transactions with a ■ Mr. Nelson, of Avvitu, to whom he sent goods on the 16th of December. Ho did i not; know why the value of tho goods vras not entered in the day book oppoeiW Nelson's namo. He believed that tho goods, ; to the vnluo of £G8 14s od, obtained from A. Hoathor and Co., were included in the November stock-taking ; bub he did not know what had become of the stock list. He also received goods from Heather and 10. on credit, on tho 15th und 23rd of December. Tho piano was purchased by Mrs. Earlo with her own money, bub he could not eay whon ib waa paid for. The piano might have been paid for out of his wages. Ho supposed that if ho handed hie wages over to his wife she could do what she liked with them. For two months after ho started business the monthly paymonbd for tho piano were continued. Mr. Campbell said ho had recoiled very unsatisfactory answers to hie qnssbions. He had met with opposition at every step. By Mr. Hammond : The December books wero more likely to bo burnt, as they were more in the vicinity of the fire than the other book's. When he received tho goods from Mr. Heather, in December, he had no idea a crash was imminent. Mr. John Earle stated that ab that time the debtor had ceased submitting hie takings to tho supervisors put in by the creditors, and yet he said lie had no idea that a crash was coming. Did he expect theses things to go on and no crash come. Hβ was surprised and disgusted at the dishonourable tactics adopted by the debtor. He was disgusted with the whole affair. Mr ; Campbell, as proxy for Messrs. L. l>. Nathan and Co., then moved, "That this meeting considers it desirable that tho debtor be publicly examined." Tho examination of tho debtor had been the most unsatisfactory ono that ho hud ever anything to do with. Ifc was only right and very desirable that tho proceedings should be subjected to a public examination. Mr. Bycroft seconded the resolution. The resolution was then put and carried, after which tho meeting separated.