BANKRUPTCY MATTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18080, 3 May 1922, Page 9

BANKRUPTCY MATTERS.

STATEMENTS AND SCHEDULES CAUSES OF FAILURES. Several schedules and statements from bankruptcy were received yesterday a!> the ! office of the official assignee. The unsecured -debts in the estate of Alfred Cooper, a carpenter, of Cheltenham Terrace, are put down at £539. The •secured debts, totalling £15,640, are covered by securities valued at £16,500. Th© assets comprise book debts estimated to produce £810; surplus from securities, £860: and a pony : valued at £10, making a total of £1680. The surplus on the estate is estimated at £1141. Prior to October, ' 1920, bankrupt owned properties at PaJmerston North and Wellington, with equities worth not less than £,5040, a motor-car valued at £500, and £200 worth of furniture. In October several property exchanges were arranged, but I as a result bankrupt lost all he owned. jHo attributed his failure to his inexj perience in business, and the fact that he • was too confiding. His furniture and | motor-oar had to be sold to pay interest j on mortgages and other charges.^ I The schedule of John Allen, motor engineer, of Matamata, shows that the i amount of £948 is owing to unsecured creditors. There is an amount of £861 owing to secured creditors, and the value 'of the securities is estimated at £1550. 4 The assets total £1161, consisting of a i third interest in the business of Allen , and ' Company, valued, at £350; book | debts, £100; furniture, £25 and the ! surolus from securities, £686. There is i thus an estimated surplus of £213. In his statement, bankrupt said he had been la working partner in the firm of Allen ! and Company, motor engineers, for two 'years. Bankrupt alleged that the sole i reason for his present position was the fact that the architect who supervised the 'building of the house and garage did not j protect him against the builders. There I was an amount of £250 to bankrupt s I credit in the Crown lands office, but the I commissioner had refused to pay this out, ! as the building was not satisfactory. ' Another bankrupt, John Sidney Orchard, ' agent, of Mount Albert, states that he Started business in May, 1919, with a . bank overdraft of £134, but he deposited promissory notes to the value of £450/ He had heavy initial expenses, and. owing to the difficulty of obtaining suitable offices, the business began to go back. ;At the, end of 1920 all the available capital had been exhausted, and he then gave up business. He was at that time in debt to the extent of £500, but as he held properties, he thought his position was sound He was unable to obtain regular clerical work, and filled in time as a land salesman. He attributed his failure I to the slump in property values, the collapse of. a company in which he was interested, and the difficulty of obtaining remunerative employment. \ petition in bankruptcy was filed by Mrs Elizabeth Catherine Crass, of Carrink Place, Auckland. The first meeting of. creditors will bo held next Wednesday. ' '' .: _. -; ■