MAN OF MANY CALLINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18388, 2 May 1923, Page 11

MAN OF MANY CALLINGS.

MEETING OF CREDITORS.

COMMISSION ; AGENT'S AFFAIRS.

A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of Thomas Francis Long, a commission agent, of Auckland, was,held yesterday, the official assignee, Mr. W. : S. Fisher, presiding*

The schedule showed that £453 16s 3d was owing to unsecured creditors and £44 to secured creditors. The assets, including book-debts, estimated to produce £371 13a 4d, totalled £612 13s 4d.

%',\ ln'a statement :bankrupt said he held a meeting of creditors;. in February, when he offered the assets now produced, \and asked for a stay of proceedings for six months. The creditors, with ; one excep- j tion, were agreeable to that offer, but the , last-nnmed creditor seemed determined to , push the matter to the last extreme.,; ... j : :Baliiltrupt,,„under examination, said _ he I started work as a carpenter after leaving '■ school, and then was mining for 10 years, ; j He had - also engaged in farming, land | agency, and ■> in timber and machinery j agency work. He was a partner U in .'a 1 1 firm dealing in second-hand'" machinery, j He had about £20 or '.£3O capital when the business was formed. .".-His - partner J found the capital. After; about: five years ;, the partnership was dissolved. Later he | went into another partnership, : forming a. I t company, .the capital of ; which was I £3000 in £1 shares. Bankrupt had 1800 j shares allotted to him.. He .believed he put into the company about £50 in cash, and a certain amount of machinery. He held about two-thirds of the shares, took i two-thirds of the profits, r : and bore two- I thirds, of the losses. His partner put in J £700 in cash. , > /v ; . j In reply to a creditor bankrupt said ho probably had not put one penny into the j company over the cash payment of about , £50 and the machinery, valued at about: £200. - * ■■■■■■■:: ■"-■>:■■. . V The ; company, continued bankrupt, carried on business, for two years, but was not; successful owing to the slump, and went into liquidation l last, October. At that time.a. the liabilities were not very heavy and would, he thought, be about squared up when the liquidation was finished. ; He had never asked the liquidator the result of the liquidation: He was i practically without resources at the time ' of the liquidation. Sice then he had been i working on-commission for various people. Ji To a creditor bankrupt said: he; lived ' in a house owned by his wife. The two i shares in: the coal mines,; included in the assets, were in the name of his wife. and daughters, but he had included, them in the statement because he .wanted to | square his liabilities as soon as possible.; J '~' The shares," said bankrupt. " are here j on the table." After the dissolution of ! the second company he had advertised a ■■; special ointment. It was made from a j secret; prescription given to him by a [ doctor. /; l ' " | In:regard to the item of "book debts " mentioned in the schedule, bankrupt said | they were debts owed to the firm he first ■ entered. He bought those debts for £15, and he valued them at £300. After further discussion it was agreed that bankrupt should be allowed 10-days in which to pee what, offer he could get for the two shares in the coal mines.