A GENIAL ASSIGNEE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 86, 31 May 1911, Page 5

A GENIAL ASSIGNEE.

A - I'HE' LAI A MIL AbIiCKOFT. 'liio fact Inut the late Mr. Jaw. \sh.CToft, one time official assignee at .Velliagtou, I’ad a humorous vein, is •efonv'ii to I>y the “New Zealand U.ms.” In some mmiscences of Jus > nation as official assignee, puhlish(l in the ‘-Tillies” a few years jure, he wrote: A trailer once raid to ire, “The only fault wo have wim you, Mr. Ashcroft, is that you ire ho.) hind to the bankrupts.” Well, I h<u e no pleasure in kicking :! man vnen he is iown. I have arrived at the eonciusion that two-thirds of tlio bankrupts ire honest hanpi npts, and such as tlie Act is designed to relievo, h hoy may lie all sorts of fools, lint not rogues. The other third includes a rice assortment of very doubtful ebarictcrs. Now and then I have had to show severity, “pour cncourager les nitres,” as .Napoleon said when lie had an offender sliot. lint a good many have slipped through, mainly because it takes a very strong casa to get a conviction. Jurors have that ‘fellow feeling” which “ifvakes ns .voudroua kind.” As to had hookioc;;ing, they know they don’t Iccep mop w books tiioniselves. The elieerul element has often l;een very useful in dealing with creditors, and I have often scut them away laughing, f remember once at the close of a aecting, where a good many were .■resent, representing various classes >f Wellington traders, 1 said, “Before you go, gentlemen, I will toll you a story.” A man once was in the habit of using a set phrase, and used it so often that ho did not quite know when he used it. The phrase was “such .as •h is.” He would ask his friends to dinner, and say, “Will yon have a bit of my mutton, such as it is?” or “Will you have a glass of my wine, 1 such as it is? Olio day ho was parting with his guests,’ and smiling benignly, lie said, “Well, rood-bye, gentlemen, I thank you for vour company, such as it is.’ 1 ’ The retiring creditors duly applied tlio story and retired smiling. On another occasion, when things had got pretty hot, and there was i good deal if cross-firing between irate crocktors.I said, “Gentlemen, I’m going to smoke a cigarette, and if you've got your pipes you might follow my example.” • This was at once acted - on, ami for a few minutes vb v.ore nil puffing the weed, when everybody cooled down -and all went off '-uumth*y till the close of the meeting, i have had more trouble with irate women than with men, but generally by a little tact, combined with firmness, I have been able to smooth things over. As a rule creditors are wonderfu'ly patient, and take their loss's philosophically, and sometimes let off the bankrupt quite easily. Ouch I had a country carter, who, as one vaueo of bankruptcy, stated ho had lost within a short period four valuxhlc horses, worth from £4O to £o() ipieco. X said, “Well, gentlemen, wo til know it’s hard enough to .voile one one dead horse, let alone four.” And they let him off.