HUGE DEFICIT SHOWN

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1933, Page 7

HUGE DEFICIT SHOWN

SEQUEL TO DE GARJS CASE.

BANKRUPTCY OF THE WIDOW.

Who would have thought that, years after the de Garis finale, there would still be possible a widow’s bankruptcy for quarter of a million? A Melbourne advice dated November 28 states:—

Mrs. Violet May de Garis, of Armadale. widow of the late Mr. Clement John de Garis, filed a statement of her affairs in the Bankruptcy Court to-day. The liabilities are set down at £255,908,' and the assets at £520 19s sd, leaving a deficiency of £255,387 0s 7d. There are 218 unsecured creditors in the estate. The principal ones include C. R. Maslin, Gisborne, £15,000; Bank of New South Wales, Bourke Street, Melbourne, £7520; J. M. ■ Cozens, Little River, £12,000, and D. L. Abraham, of St. Kilda, £9OOO. Mrs. de Garis gives the cause of her bankruptcy as “the carrying on of a business in her name by her late hus'band. over which she had no control; the fact that she always believed that there was considerable money to come to her from money in the hands of the solicitors for her husband’s and her own affairs, and the fact that, on settlement, her hopes were not realised. Mrs. de Garis says that she first became unable to pay her debts as they became due on the date of her husband’s death on August 16, 1926. Mr. C. J. de Garis, who was found asphyxiated by gas at his home in Mornington, was one of the most remarkable business men in Australia in the post-war period. He possessed a capacity for great industry and had marked ability as a salesman. His chief activities were land investment and development projects. Mr. de Garis was a leading figure for some years in the dried fruits industry. Many of his ventures failed when his enterprise and his imagination carried him beyond the limits of safe finance. His most notable failure was the project to develop the Kendenup estate of 46,000 acres in Western Australia, the affairs of which led to an inquiry by a Royal Commission. Mr. de Garis attempted to float the Kendenup scheme at the height of his career, when he was also interested in publicity, theatrical, musical, aviation and other ventures. It was estimated in 1921 that his turnover was £500,000 a year. After the Kendenup failure Mr. de Garis turned his attention to land subdivisions in and around Melbourne. After some initial success, this venture also was beset by financial troubles, and early in 1925 Mr. de Garis disappeared, leaving notes which indicated that he intended to commit suicide. A few weeks later he was arrested on a creditors’ warrant at Auckland (New Zealand), and was returned to Australia.