£2789 DEFICIENCY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23111, 9 August 1938, Page 11

£2789 DEFICIENCY

DOCTOR'S BANKRUPTCY PRACTICE AT CAMBRIDGE SUFFERER FROM ILL-HEALTH [fbosi oub own oorrkspondent] HAMILTON, Monday A deficiency of £2789 was shown in I the bankrupt estate of Neill David Matron, medical practitioner, Cambridge, according to a schedule submitted at a meeting of creditors held before the official assignee, Mr. V. R. Crowhurst, in Hamilton tc-day. Bankrupt was absent owing to ill-health. The schedule showed unsecured debts totalling £3469, and assets, including book debts, estimated to realise £6OO, amounted to £679. In his statement, Dr. Matson said he was born in Christchuch in 1902. His parents were' then well-to-do. In 1925 he left for England to continue bis medical studies, and he eventually qualified M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., and D.L.O. He suffered trouble with his head and nose, -which he had injured when he was 18, and he underwent 18 major operations. Purchase of Practice In spite of the treatment he had had, he continued to suffer. He married and returned to New Zealand in 1937. He acted as locum tenens, and then purchased Dr. J. Ritchie's practice at Cambridge on terms requiring him to pay £33 a month. He had practically no capital. The practice proved most successful, and fees averaged £2OO a month on the books. The rush of work and his lack of business training resulted in his business affairs getting' out of hand and he had difficulty in meeting his commitments. His health gave way, and he was unable to attend to his work for some weeks. Dr. Ritchie resumed the practice, and bankrupt left Cambridge to enter hospital. Dr. Matson said he and his wife and parents had no means. Concluding, bankrupt attributed his failure to lack of business training, to taking on large commitments before he became firmly established, and principally to ill-health. Decisions of Creditors A creditor, while expressing sympathy with bankrupt in his ill-health, said there was no excuse for his action in contracting the debts he did. A committee, consisting of Messrs. F. A. Swarbrick, F. Kingsford and H. H. Short, was appointed to act in conjunction with the official assignee in realising the assets. A resolution was passed recommending the official assignee to oppose bankrupt's discharge unless he consented to judgment for an amount equal to 10s in the pound.