LIQUIDATION OF A WELLKNOWN FIRM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10263, 22 January 1895, Page 7

LIQUIDATION OF A WELLKNOWN FIRM.

Curistciiuhcii, January 13.

Information has been received by cable from London tint Miles siud Co. (Limited) have presented a petition for the voluntary winding up of the company. 16 is cotifiud that th« business hitharto carried on by them iii Canterbury ivill he ccntiuned in liquidation, and that all clients' moneys that may be received wjll bs 2>lnced in a special trust accouut. It is said that Ul9 ciusa of the winding up is depreciation iv value of property and securities. The firm held very large estates in all parts of New Zealand, and lost heavily over some of them.

(Saturday's Times.)

Ths firm of Miles and Co. (Limited), which has just gone into liquidutioa, vyas forinsd between two snd three years ago, but ths firm whose business it tjok ovor was oue of the olansfc in the United Kingdom, having been in existence, under one Dame or another, for Dearly 200 years. One of its menibera represented Bristol ia tlie Houan of Commons continuously for upwncda o£ 20 years. The firm (says the Lyttelton Times) ro*o to its greitriat eminence* in the lifetime of Mr Philip John Miles, who was tha principal partner in JKiles, Hertford, snd Co., bankers, of Bristol, and also in Miles' aud Kiiigton, mercuaiits aud shipowners, trading chiefly between Bristol and the West Indies. On hiti death, in 1844, the banking and mercantile nouses were separated, the late Sir William Miles an 3 Itr John Miles remaining in the bank, while Mr Philip Miles and Mr Thomas Kingtou took ths tubrcantita business. The bank w*s c.ule.l Miles, Hartford, and Co., then Sir William Miles and Co., and finally was amalgamated with Cave and. (Vs. Bank (called the Old Bristol Bant) aud became Kile?, Cave, and Cos. Bank. The mercantile house was Btteb espied Miles and Kington, of Bristol and London. Soon utter its independent start, Messrs Edward and Cruger Milss (brothers of Mr Philip Miles, and sons of. ffir Philip John Miles) bacame psrtnevs. After the discovery of gold in Australia, Hr Pnilip, Kington and Mr W. O. Mackworth were sent out to establish a house in M.-lbouvus. They were joined by the late Mr F. Bunks. In 185S Mr Banks came to Lytteltou to open a house in Canterbury, and iii ISSS Mv H. y. Murn-y-Aynsley wa3 sent to iiwpoct the naw field. He resumed to England, aud caoici hack to New Zealand iv 1859 in the steanier Kayal Brid«, owned by the firm, which was now called Miles Bros. This steamer was built tv Miles Bros.' order, aud launched on the marriage dsy of the Princess Royal (thn Empress Frederick). Sho was intended to open direct steam communication, bfitweeo. ISiiw Zealand and England, but it was found that at that timu tliero was not sufficient; trade to justify this, and the projact was abandoned. The lioyil Brid,e, however, took back a cargo of wool to London. Mr Murray-AvusUy, on his arrival, took charge of the branch fct Lyttelton, IV|r Banks returning to Melbourne, Mr T. Kass&l. who had come from the Melbourne branch about 1857, remaining in Lyttelfcon. The Chrutchuroh office was opened a few years later. About 18G7 the firm acquired Mr Le Cren's business in Timaru, and iri 1863 Mr Fuibert Archer arrived from Melbourne to tako charge of this new br*nch. In 1869 Mr Murraj'-Aynsley took a trip to England, snd Mr Banks, having wound up the Australian business, returned to New Zealand. About this time Messrs Philip and Cruger Miles retired from the firm, and negotiations were entered into which terminated in Messrs Murray-Aynsiey, Banks, Haesal, and I?. Archer becoming partners in the firm in 1875, the firm1 iv Christchurch bsing called UJitss, Hassal, and Co., and in Timaru Miles, Archer, and Co. lv 1879 Mr Ha3sal died, and the title was changed to fifties aud Co. About two years ago Sir BJurray-Avusley retired from the partnership. Mr Edward Mile=>, who had come ouo to New Zealand tp inspect the New Ze&Uud business, died at Msniwaru, Te Aroha —a property which belonged to the London firm—on his way homo. Mr Hilton, one of tho London partners, then cams out, and on his return to Loijdoa arr?.pgernents ware completed for the conversion of the business into a private limited liability company. Me Fuibert Archer was brought from Timaru to assist Mr Banks. TJie capital of tbe present company was registered at £100,000, all paid-up. It is understood that the number of fhsteholders is small, bsJDg the number required to fulfil the conditions of the Joint Stock Companies Act. 3?he company has offices at Christchurch, Asaburton, and Timaru, with large buildings at each place. It is understood that tha business lof Miles r.r4 Co. in Cantwbnry in one of the I bead wool snd stock businesses in New Zealand, the firm possessing the cream of the Canterbury run-holing account;?.