A BANKRUPTCY ROMANCE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 4298, 4 December 1895, Page 6

A BANKRUPTCY ROMANCE.

At the Liverpool Bankruptcy Court, one of the sensational commercial failures of the century has come before the Court under peculiar circumstances. In the year 1847, the great Liverpool firm of Barton, Irlam, and Higginson, West India merchants, failed, with liabilities amounting t0£850,119, of which sum no less than £545,719 was due to the Royal Bank of Liverpool, while other banks and commercial firms were creditors for large amounts, such as £70,000, £35,000, and so on. The effect of such a failure was, of course, disastrous, the direct result being that the Koyal Bank of Liverpool itself collapsed, and iv its fall it brought ruin to many persons. The affairs of the bankrupt firm, however, did not themselves turn out ill, for although about twelve years were occupied in the process, the dividends paid in the end amounted to 17s 6d in tbe £. The junior partner in the firm was Mr Jonathan Higginson, who died in 1859. Under somewhat similar circumstances an interesting discovery was recently made — namely, that some time before the bankruptcy of bis firm, Mr Higginson bad bought in his own name 145 shares in the Leeds and Tbirsk Railway Company. This company was afterwards taken over by the NorthEastern Railway Company, and in respect of his 145 shares a sum of £3,087 of,"cousolidated stock in the North-Eastern Bailway was allotted to Mr Higginson. The railway company, in view of some uncertainty as to the position, had not paid over to any person the dividends accruing upon the stock held in the name of Mr Higginsou, and. these added to the capital sum have now amounted to a total of about £7,000. An agreement has recently been arrived at between the official receiver and the widow for dividing the amount claimed ia certain shares, the former reoeiving the original sum of £3,087, plus the dividends for the past six years, and the latter the dividends for previous years. His Honor gave bis sanction to the agreement.