MOTOR-BUS FAILURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18949, 21 February 1925, Page 10

MOTOR-BUS FAILURE.

TEN MONTHS' OPERATIONS. MONEY BORROWED TO START. CREDITORS NOT SATISFIED. The use of second-hand vehicles employed on a very bad stretch of road was said to have contributed largely to tho failure of Charles Henry Thistle, motorbus proprietor. Blockhouse Bay, who yesterday met his creditors at, the office of the official assignee, Mr, W. S. Fisher. The schedule showed there was £336 2s 6d owing to unsecured creditors while the assets were set down as nil. There were no secured creditors, or other Inabilities, real estate or book debts. In a written statement the bankrupt said I that failure to pay his creditors was due j to recurring breakdowns to his cars, with | the result that be lost the bulk of the hoii- | day traffic upon which he was depending. The uneven state of the roads contributed J to the disablement of the cars. Under cross-examination by the assignee ! the bankrupt said he had been 12 years ! with tho London General Omnibus Cotn- | pa.nv first as driver and then as foreman I driver. Retrenchment in 1923 threw him | out of employment and lie came to Auck- | land about .10 months ago. Me had prac--1 tically no capital, and being unable to ; obtain employment he borrowed money i with which he bought a bus and started in | the Point (Lovelier service. After four months, competition drove | him out and ho started running to Bloek- ! house Bav, where there w;r.; no competition and'there was prospect of success, i He borrowed a further £llO privately but | had paid this bark. With the money he i acquired two second-hand seven-passenger S ears, undertaking to pay £2OO for one | and £250 for the other. Breakdowns due i to the worn condition of iho cars allowed i the. tratio -to go to a competitor and bo j closed down on February 2. He had paid £7O on one car and !'4O on the other and ! both were returned to the original owner. I The first vehicle on which £4O had been paid was also returned. Preferential Payment Alleged. ! Most of the money owing was for pet j rot and tyres. Creditor;-, present com i plained bitterly that bankrupt hud obi tained credit at a. time when, as was now I known, he: had ie> prospect <>f paying, i Complaint was also made that bankrupt | made preferential payments to discharge : the private debt of £llO while tlirir ae- ! counts were not paid, the bankrupt, bav- ! iug (old i hem he was doing well. I One creditor who had travelled on bank rupt's vehicles declared that thistle had j been too optimistic, about, the prospects, land his attitude toward his, passengers j had been a little too familiar. In adtli- ' lion to this the had been somewhat, j irregular and uncertain. Despite the. bad | roads the bankrupt had often driven his ! vehicles at 40 miles an hour, so it was | not surprising he had breakdowns, j The assignee remarked that, bankrupt ! had started in business under unfavourj able circumstances. Had he possessed j money of his own In lose it would not, ! have been so had, l/tt he had no right | to go into a problematical venture at tho j expense of his creditors. In answer to other questions the bankI nipt stated that bis wife and family were still living in England and since September he had sent them £4O. His total drawings had been about £4 10s a week. " A Debt of Honour." I Several creditors suggested that banki rupt should furnish the name of the lady | who had lent him the £llO and to whom I it was alleged ho had made preferential | payments at a time when he must, have j known he was insolvent. Bankrupt j naively remarked that this was a debt | of honour and had to be paid as the lady | needed the money to pay her way. Credi I tors confessed to being in the same posij tioTi. Bankrupt then supplied the name. A motion expressing dissatisfaction with ; bankrupt's conduct, and instructing the I official assignee •to oppose, his discharge 1 until some part of the indebtedness had j been paid, was carried. Bankrupt asked what the creditors I would accept in settlement, stating he j might possibly gel backing to purchase j new vehicles but that his backer might | not be, disposed to discharge the present j indebtedness. J The official assignee replied that hankj rupt had better make an offer and lie | would submit it to the creditors at a | later meeting.