MEETING OF MR R. J. DUNCAN'S CREDITORS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 129, 8 April 1879, Page 2

MEETING OF MR R. J. DUNCAN'S CREDITORS.

(From the New Zealand Times,)

A meeting of Mr R, J, Duncan's creditors was held on Saturday afternoon, Mr McDowell in the cluiir. Mr Duncan submitted a statement of assets and liabilities,

showing liabilities £19,045, assetsf 14,122' deficiency £5,522, but from the fact of the secured creditors having command of the whole of the assets, with the exception of the book debts, there remained but a small sum divisible among the unsecured creditors. The following creditors are secured The executors of the late W, B. Rhodes, Mr Hickson, Messrs Krull & Co., and Mr iravers. Second mortgages are hold by Mr Henry Duncan and Sir Robert Port, It was resolved that Mr Duncan should make an absolute assignment of his estate, and Mr Carroll was appointed Trustee,

A so-called " private meeting of several of the resident creditors" of a well-known auctioneer, ■ who has been doing business in the city for many years, was called on Saturday last. No representatives of the Press were admitted, but in the interests of the public it may be well to point out a few facts in connection with the meeting which would bear a little elucidation. The particulars we have gleaned may possibly be somewhat inaccurate, but we shall be glad to correct any mistakes which may have arisen from the fact that we, have had to trust to hearsay evidence only as to what took place. The main point in connection with the bankruptcy is this: almost, if

hb'fe quite all the 4ebts J ; amounting ..to £2Q,O{)O, m!.round..-numlors;-' were. for accoaimodiition only, and although the major portidii; of the/amount has- been secured, there is still a'bfilance of '£6,000 unaccounted for. In the interests of the many absent creditors no one' oven asked what had become of all lliis 1 money. There 110 stock-in-trade,'there has been a good business conducted, and yet the fact remains that a large sum of money has disappeared, no man knows whither,,\and the creditor ,is not even called upon to explain his losses, The book debts are only expected to realise a shilling ov so in the £, and' may therefore be disregarded. The notices convening the meeting state distinctly• 1 ask you to attend a ' private' meeting of a few of my resident creditors, to be held at my office, Panama-street, " The question arises: whether a meeting convened in these terms is so constituted as to be able to appoint a trustee, accept an assignment and to allow the debtor to escape altogether from undergoing tho enquiry to. which lie would have ken subjected in the Bankruptcy Court, and from the' discredit attached to the process. The nonresident, uninvited creditors might surely have been allowed to peruse an unbiassed report of what passed at the meeting, The auctioneer in question had only ■ recently the pleasure of conducting one of the largest sales ever held in New Zealand, and would not be generally regarded as insolvent,. The Government always pays handsomely, but even this plum was not enough to keep the business afloat, From i rumors which were flying': about- shortly after the sale was completed, it was generally believed the firm was in diffi-'. culties, but few persons expected to see the deficiency so great, or to find the unsecured creditors left so completely out in the cold, This is not the first time upon which this J.P. has met his creditors, but even if nothing further transpires in regard to this insolvency, we may expect to hear of his being removed from the commission of the peace. Those who administer justice ought moro especially to be above suspicion, and the gentleman to whom wo allude is no longer so. We have reason to believe that more will he heard of this insolvency.