ASIATIC TRADERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19142, 7 October 1925, Page 14

ASIATIC TRADERS.

INCREASING BANKRUPTCIES. NEED FOR CONTROL URGED. An urgent recommendation that action should be taken in regard to the control of Asiatic traders was contained in a letter from the official assignee, Mr. W. S. Fisher, which camo up for consideration at the meeting of the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday. The letter was written by direction of the Auckland Fruit Importers' Association, which had requested the assignee to draw attentitrti to the alarming number of bankruptcies among Chinese and Hindu traders during the past two or three years. "Upon various occasions," stated the letter, "Supreme Court Judges have held that Asiatic traders could hardly be dealt with in the same manner as Europeans in regard to infringement of the Bankruptcy Act, but members of the Fruit Importers' Association are unanimously of opinion that these Chinese and Hindus should be compelled by law to keep proper hooks, and, further, that the books should be audited annually by a registered public accountant. The Chinese practice of trading under several different names was declared to be very unsatisfactory, the name under which the business was carried on rarely being the name of the owner. The association further suggested that a system similar to that obtaining in Tahiti might be adopted locally. Under this system all Chinese were registered under a distinctive number and were bound to Ufse this number in all business undertakingsA few years ago all Chinese traders were men of repute and stability and a bankruptcy in,their community was very rare. The position to-day was very different and the sound Chinese themselves were the loudesl in declaiming the instability of some of their countrymen. "Members of the council expressed the opinion that the remedy for the present state of affairs lay in the hands of the merchants who should simply refuse to give credit. The matter was referred to the Legal and Finance Committee for further consideration.