FARMERS' UNION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5322, 29 July 1895, Page 1

FARMERS' UNION.

MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS. The adjourned meeting of shareholders in the Farmers' Union Grain, Produce and Finance Company, Limited, in liquida•fion, was held at the Wellington Hotel on Saturday afternoon, to consider the delay in Winding up the company. Forty shareholders, representing about 500 shares, were present. Mr Heslop was voted to the chair, and read a letter from Mr E. R. Deacon, solicitor to the company, stating that the official liquidator had requested him to give the meeting some information. The Magistrate's Court had only just made a return of the executions issued against shareholders who had not paid their calls, tbe delay having been caused by the bailiff having been unable to Berve fche papers, as many of thoae sued were away or had left the address given him, and their whereabouts could not be traoed. The official liquidator had applied many times for the return mentioned, and could aot complete hia accounts without it. The bailiff's delay waa quite excusable, as he had to send 675 summonses, orders and executions, and had bad no extra assistance. Directly the final returns had been made, the official liquidator had made up his accounts, and they were nearly complete before the first of the recent meetings of shareholders was oalled. The accounts would now be filed, and on the Judge's return an order would be askod for directing tbe payment of the balance of the debts owing hy the company (5s in the £) and closing the liquidation. The shareholders would not in any case be called on .to pay any more calls, and the application to tho Court for the final winding up would be made as soon aa the Judge returned from Wellington. The shareholders,, who had made it necessary for nearly seven hundred processes of the Court to be issued before they would pay the calls, had not only delayed the proceedings in the winding np, but had added considerably to the expense. Notwithstanding the enormous Amount of trouble to which the liquidator Jhad been put, he would not make any further calls, and would have his accounts filed at once. Messrs Bates and Goodman, who had been appointed at tbo previous meeting to make inquiries into the position of the affairs, presented the following report:—" As requested by the shareholders of this company present ut the | meeting held on Thursday, July 18, we beg to report that we have looked into this matter, but regret to Bay that we cannot give the meeting much more information I than they at present possess, bb no statement of accounts hea been filed by Mr ; Eiver, the official liquidator of the com- , pany, and he positively refuses to give us ! jany information or to allow us to inspect j any books or papers connected, with the liquidation. We pressed Mr Kiver to allow i job to sea his cash book, but he declined, { stating he would file accounts, and when i filed we could see them, and we must wait ! until he has done bo. We reminded Mr | Eiver that the order made on his appoint- j ment aB liquidator of this company i directed bim to file hia accounts monthly, • -and he admits this, but giveß as a reason for hia not having done bo some Arrangement he alleges ho has with the Registrar of tho Supreme Court, that he , need not file them until the liquidation j was closed. This may ba co, but we doubt I ■whether he has not misunderstood the : Eegistrar, as from our knowledge of him, i we very much question whether he would ; consent to the arrangement alleged by Mr Eiver, especially as it ia in direct contra- ■ vention to the order of bis Honor Mr ! Denniston, of April 13, 1892, 1 directing Mr Eiver to file his accounts ' monthly. Mr Eiver stated to us that he ; was preparing the accounts, and would : file them before July 27, but he j wished ub to impress on the share- j "holders that their last meeting had ] not affected him in tho slightest and ; had not hastened the filing of the accounts ! one minute. Mr Eiver also stated that he ; personally would not for £100 make any further call. It must be extremely gratifying to the contribute ries of this company to have tbis assurance. As far as we j can ascertain the total amount of debts j due to creditors at the date of the liquida- I tion was £664 123 4d, of which £9 12a 6d •claimed to be paid in full, leaving £654 19a lld to rank as ordinary creditors. I The company went into liquidation about ' October 1891, and Mr L. 0. Williams was j appointed offloial liquidator at a salary of : £2 per week. He acted in the business I until April' 1892, and during the six 1 months he was the liquidator he got in £277 153 Aii. Mr Williams having retired Mr Charlea Eiver, of Hereford Street, commission agent, was, in April, 1892, appointed official liquidator on the Bi.me j terms as Mr Williams, namely, at a salary ■. of £2 per week, Mr E. R. Deacon being ■solicitor to the official liquidator. Mr Williams handed over to Mr Charleß Kiver in cash £223 15a 4d, being the amount in hands after deducting £54. Mr •Williams's allowance at £2 per week for rthe period he was official liquidator, so Mr -Eiver started with .£223 15s 41 in hand. Mr .Kiver proceeded to get in tho assets of the company and wind it up, and we find

that, in February, 1893, or ten monthß after he was appointed, he paid to the creditors 10b in the £1 on their claims, amounting to a sum of £265 14s 10_d. From the month of February, 1893, until September, 1893,- being a period of seven months, Mr Eiver having paid no further dividend, the creditors began to get uneasy, and they called a meeting of patties interested for Sept. 27, 1893, to consider the aspect of matters. At this meeting Mr Eiver attended and ■explained the reason of the delay, and that he had received from all sources £818, and he accounted for it as follows:— Paid creditors 10a inthe £, £266} court fees, rent, small accounts paid in full and liquidation fees, £382; caßh then in hand in Union Bank of Australia, £170'; making i a total of £818. No statement of accounts ] was furnished, but Mr Eiver promised to make a final call and bring the liqui- j dation to a close as soon as possible. | On the strength of this promise | nothing waa done at that meeting. Notwithstanding this definite promise we find that no further steps were taken by Mr Eiver to make the final call until about April, 1894, or, say, seven months after tho meeting held in September, and in April, 1894, a final call of 3s in the £ was duly authorised. (Mr Eiver had, however, between September, 1893, and April, 1894, paid the creditors a further sum of 3s in the £ sterling.) In April, 1894, notwithstanding the fact that, say, about £1000 had been collected and got in by the liquidators to pay total debts, » at the outset amounting to £664, Mr Eiver Btill asserted it would take another £500 to pay all liabilities, and be estimated that the 3s oall made in April, 1894, would realise sufficient to pay this sum. The call having been duly made and a large portion thereof paid, tbe creditors, not even now being fully paid, are complaining at the delay in settling the amounts due to them, and we cannot wonder at their being diasatißfied, aa ifc has taken nearly four years to wind up a company -which, had the winding-up been in the hands of the Pnblio Trustee or the Official Assignee, would have been completed in a few months. For a portion of this delay, however, some of the contributors are not free from blame, because had they promptly responded to the demands of the liquidator much time might have been saved, and a large sum incurred for coats in conneotion therewith avoided; but notwithstanding this the whole blame for the delay should not be by any meanß saddled on tbe shoulders of the contributors. It must be i looked for elsewhere. And here we cannot refrain from expressing our opinion that it was a great mistake and error of judgment to allow the liquidator a weekly wage. In our opinion he should have been paid a 1 commission .when the liquidation closed, aB j uncharitable persons are sometimes only [ too glad to make capital out of any delay I and even to associate the weekly salary | with the apparent non-anxiety of ' a liquidator to close the liquidation. We | have submitted a shoit statement of the i facts conneoted with this unfortunate j liquidation so far as we have been able to ! ascertain them, and we are confident that in the main they fully represent the case ss it stands. Shortly, it has taken say about four years to wind up a small company, which would have been wound up by the Official Assignee or Public Trustee in a few months, and that whilst the total debts due at the commencement of the liquidation only amounted to £664, thiß haa , been increased, by the addition of costs connected with the liquidation, amounting to say about £700, of which the official liquidators claim say £350, and the solicitor in the matter another £800. We think comment is needless, as surely the facta speak for themselves. In conclusion, there are several courses open to tbe parties interested, and it ia for them to decide what further steps they will take. We, however, recommend that the attention of. the Conrt should be directed to the matter, and that the accounts of the liquidator should be searchingly inquired into and rigidly examined. In addition, the solicitors' costs shonld be j taxed, and a solicitor employed to watoh [ and protect the interests of the contribu- | tories. If, however, the contributors ; objecb to this on the score of expense, then there ia the other course open to them of laying the facts before the Houae of Representatives, 'and to endeavour to get the Government to take the matter up, cause an inquiry to be held, and the blame, if any, for the great delay and the enormous cost saddled on the right Bhouldere." Mr J. Jamieson moved— s*That thia meeting of the shareholders of the Farmers' . Union Grain, Produce and Finance Company, having heard the | report of the commission appointed to j inquire into the delay attending the liquidation, is of opinion that the state of affairs therein disclosed call b for immediate investigation ; further, that steps be taken for the removal of the present liquidator." Mr Gearschawßki seconded the motion, wbich waa carried unanimously. A shareholder pointed out that the order of the Judge as to the liquidator's payment waa that he should be paid £2 per week on account ot the remuneration to be hereafter fixed by the Judge. Therefore there was a chance that the liquidator might be called upon to return some of wbat had been paid to him. The Chairman and Mr Goodman stated that they had reason for saying that the delay was not, aa had been asserted, the fault of the bailiff, Mr Hayley moved—" That thia meeting recommends the appointment of George W. Hulme, fellow of the New Zealand

Institute of Accountants, as liquidator, at a fixed fee of £15 15*. Mr Wharton seconded the motion, which was carried nem. con. Mr J. Jemieson moved—" Tbat Messrs Bruges and Bates be requested to bring the matter before the Court, and generally to give effect to the foregoing resolutions." Mr Hutchinson seconded the motion, which was carried. Votes of thanks were passed to Messrs Goodman and Bates for the trouble they had taken in the matter, and to tho Chai* man. After some routine matters had been disposed of the meeting closed.