DRY CLEANER BANKRUPT

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1930, Page 7

DRY CLEANER BANKRUPT

DISSATISFiELD CREDITORS

PUBLIC EXAMINATION SOUGHT.

J. W. MOORE’S LACK OF ASSETS.

A motion urging a public examination ' of the bankrupt with a full investigation of his financial position was passed by a meeting in New Plymouth on Tuesday of the creditors of a dry cleaner and dyer, James W. Moore. The ..holding.of the.examination will depend I on the readiness of the creditors to provide, the costs, ■ estimaUd. at about ■£2o- ... . ■ .' • . A The Deputy -Official. Assignee, Mr, J. S. S. Medley,: presided, and there .werp about mine creditors present. Mopre WftS not represented by a aoUcitpr, ■ In. a written statement Moore said (that in October, 1929, be started business .as a dry cleaner and dyer under the name .-of the New Plymouth Dry! Cleaning Company, Devon, street east’; At this time, he had £l5. In Feb.ru-' Aary, 1930, die -took: Mr. J. Watson, .Ne-W : r pPlyihouth,' as a' partiier.' He' received I £75 from Watson, and this was put 1 into the business, together with £5O jWatson ioame.d him; Business,, was very slack after last Easter, and all that wps- dpue wag ivhat he canvassed for. Jn May he became ill. and away from Work off and on till July. Ho hail':to employ a man during that period,, paying him £3 10s per week. 'He honestly believed he would have made the bysimws pay in tune, ami 'paid all. his debts, but wag. forced to igo. bankrupt owing to a judgment"sum-* mons being out against him. lie also ■ went intp-the soft goods line, but knew absolutely nothing about it, and lost ’nionhy' owing to goods being spoiled and faded, in the window. He was sorry ho was unable to offer anything to his creditors, but hoped to bo able to pdy his debts-iii time, as he, had every UH tention of doing. ' Bankrupt’s statement showed liabilities to unsecured creditors ampunGng to £5BB 5s 3d, and to secured creditors £5O, the value of the security being estimated, at £75. Assets were shown as furniture £l5,

The secured creditor was the .Dominion Motors, the security being a Studebaker car obtained on the hire-purchase system for. £75. .The amount of debt how owing was £5O. The unsecured creditors were: Paramount Tyres, £5; G. R. Beard, £1 6s; Hill and Son, £l6 ss; L. R. Rimmer, £7 17s sd ; Carter and Sons, Ltd., £lO 19s 4d; Macky, Logan, Ltd., £3B 18s Id; Hartnell and Co., £1 18s; Shell Oil Company, £l9 10s 8d; Reliance Printcry, Ltd., Auckland, £2O 17s lid; Watts, £2 7s 6d; Darby and Hannan, Ltd., £2 10s; Wood Sign Co., £4 0s; Boon Bros., £9 Ils; Taranaki Herald, £6 10s 10d; Taranaki Daily News, £l2; Carter and Sons, £9 9s 9d; McLeod and .Slade, Ltd., £5 ss; Stainton and Co., £5 13s 9d; Perreau and Wilson, £3 18s; P. F. Burrows, Ltd., £l7; J. Watson, £125; H. Moller,, .£4B; Kopko senr. and Kopke junr., £80; Lewis, £10; Taranaki Sign Co., £5 0s; Post and Telegraph, £1 7« Hd; G. W. Wilton, £R; Clough,. £2 15s; /Fitzgerald, £10; Newton King, Ltd., £3 5s Gd; Borough Council, £3 2s; H. V. Leighton, £1 ss; Jenkins Bros., £5O 10s 7d. Examined by Mr. Medley, Moore said he was a single man. Before going into the dry cleaning business lie was workiiiw for his father on the cast coast. Owing to illness his father was unable to help him now, He had had some experience of dry cleaning before going into the business. He admitted that £l5 was a small amount of capital on Which to start a. business,- but he believed that had he been lcft_ alone lie would have made a success of it, and paid all his debts; though it might have taken him six or seven years to d<? so. Mr. Burrows ..considered there should be a public examination. If this kind of thing was allowed to go on, he said, the whole business of the town would collapse. The assignee said it would appear as though bankrupt had obtained credit when lie knew he could not pay. Bankrupt repeated that had one or two of the creditors not pushed him he thought he would have been able to succeed. With the exception of two or three creditors most of them had agreed to accept monthly payments in reduction of their debts.

Mr. Burrows again contended that there should be a public examination. Another creditor, however, said he was not prepared to find any money towards the cost. It seemed to him Useless going on. It was like trying to get blood out of a stone. Mr. Burrows: You win g®t no money but it will help to pitop this sort of thing. Here is a man owing between £5OO and £6OO and there lire no assets.

The assignee said that according to bajikriipt’a booka his total receipts from the biisipe&s had been £l7O 5s 4d, and his payments amounted to £31)0 lift lOd. 1 ' .' z ■

, In toply ip a question; bankrupt, said the difference between receipts , and payments represented borrowed mopey. After further discussion it was resolved, op the motion of Messrs. Burrow® and Watts," that -it is advisable that bankrupt be publicly examined and the wliole matter thoroughly investigated.