BANKRUPT MANAGER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18861, 8 November 1924, Page 13

BANKRUPT MANAGER.

DEBTS AMOUNTING TO £6000. ;

FAILURE OF A COMPANY.

CRITICISM BY ASSIGNEE.

An echo of the failure of A. R. McNeil and Co., which was forced into liquidation in August, 1921, with liabili-

ties amounting to over £21,000, was sounded at the official assignee's office yesterday, when Cyril A. Paque, former manager and part proprietor of the com pany was called upon by his creditors to explain the circumstances of an in debtedncss amounting to ovor £6000. The amount due to unsecured creditors was £2799, and to secured creditors £4005.

The securities' were valued at £3300 leaving a further deficiency of £705. Other liabilities amounted to £5000, which, to gether with a further sum of £400. owing to unsecured creditors, brought the total indebtedness to £6904.

Bankrupt stated that his present position was brought about through his connection with McNeil and Co. There were formerly two partners in the biibi ness, but he bought ono out, and the other subsequently retired. As manager for the company, h« did all in his power to protect its interests, and to this end mortgaged his homo for £3500 and his furniture for £400, all the money going into the company. All his indebtedness, with the exception of about £70, was incurred on account of McNeil and Co., for which indebtedness he accepted !ia- v bility. These debts were incurred from three and s-half to four years ago. Since that time he had been doing his utmost to reduce this indebtedness. He had paid one creditor £264 in the last three and a-half years, and was paying other* at the rate of £1 a week in reduction oT interest on house and mortgages. Debto?' further stated that ho had been working from seven o'clock in the morning unra ten at night, buying waste paper and cukting it by hand into sizes required by shop-keepers. If he had not been mahj» bankrupt by one creditor, he was .sure 'hp coufld have met his obligations in time'!,Questioned by the assignee, debtor stated that as manager for McNeil Rgjj , Co. he had drawn about £400 a The business was practically his own > m the letter stages, and he took its on his own shoulders. Credit bad bef# given to him rather than to the ciu|rp pany, acrid he was doing his utmost to pjj off these debts when he was made bankrupt. Since the liquidation he had p;fl{l off al>oOt £1000 from debts outstanding at that time. It .

" As a- result of the liquidation," stated the assignee, " claims have been proved against the company amounting to no less than £21.445, and now you come here with an ■ indebtedness of about £4COO in addition. That is a very serious condition of affairs."

Bankrupt replied that the company had been very J>adly hit by the depression and by adverse rates of exchange existing at that time. He strenuously denied the implication that since the failure of McNeil and Co. he had put in much time joy-riding in a motor-car. runaing the ear for another man's honefit, and certainly not for his own diversion. Giving further details of his connection with McNeil and Co., ho stated that h» had given £600 worth of promissory notes for debts incurred by the company before it went into liquidation. He subsequently entered into an arrangement with the holder of the notes, under which he was to dispose of a large number of envelopes for which the latter held an agency. He "was under the impression that notes for £100 were cancelled in. return for these services. " I would have paid .all my creditors if they had only let me alone," declared debtor. " I have been working as hard as any man can work, ;lnd if only the creditors would find the capatal 1 would make money for them." " I have no doubt you are a hard worker," Mr. Fisher, " but you have put up a very lurid record, being the person mainly responsible for McNeil and Co.'s heavy indebtedness. Many of those debts must have been incurred when bhere was no prospect of paying them. -It was a case of reckless trading. Had you yourself filed when the company went into liquidation, something might harve been done." The meeting concluded without any resolution being passed.