CHARGED TOO LITTLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1928, Page 9

CHARGED TOO LITTLE.

MOTOR MECHANIC’S COSTING DIFFICULTIES. CREDITORS DEMAND DIVIDEND. In the affairs of the young man named Lind Ross, McKenzie Mitchell, who. after working successfully as a motor mechanic, failed when he set up in business in his own repair garage, were invetigated at a well-attended meeting of creditors to-dav. The Deputy Official Assignee (Mr. *x. R. Crowhurst) presided. Mitchell (who .as represented by Mr. Conlan) formerly traded at 320 Khyber Pass Road. Hip statement of affairs showed debts amounting to £691, 4he deficiency being £397. Hhe attributed his failure mainly 'o undercharging for jobs done, to advertising, for which he got no return, and to high overhead charges. Answering Mr. Crowhurst, debtor said that for the first six months he did repair work at private garages, and then he opened the Khyber Pass premises. Rent, legal expenses, wages and overhead expenses, accounted for an average of £lO a week, and his personal takings from the business were practically negligible. He had worked night and day, frequently at wek-ends, but he lost a goo’d deal of business by not being able to go out to private garages, and also by inaccuracies in his cotings. He attempted to reduce his overhead charges, and during the later part of the time he was in business he did most of the work himself.

A creditor said he would like to know what had happened to the money which Mitchell had earned. “I have often seen him at work when I called, and I know he is a hard worker,” he added. “He must have received a good deal of money for the work he did, and the question is where it has gone.”

Mr. Conlan said the statement of affairs showed that Mitchell’s personal drawings had been £57/10/6 in two years.

The creditor: That couldn’t possibly keep him. (To debtor) : I have it on good authority that you spent a good deal on horse-racing.

Debtor: I dispute that most emphatically.

Mitchell added that he had not had to pay any board, to which the creditor replied that it was hard to understand how he could have lived on ten shillings a week.

Mr. Conlan said It appeared that the main cause of Mitchell’s present position was that he had no experience of costng, and that wa how the money had gone.

Another creditor agreed that it was a very difficult matter to estimate -the cost of a job of repair work. He had often known instances in which a job was estimated at 30/, and the cost had been greatly in excess. Mr. Conlan (to the creditor): How do you balance up, then —You can’t always balance; you balance one job with another.

The Deputy Official Assignee said no doubt Mitchell’s failure was partly due to the fact that he had no business experience prior to starting on his own account. However, he certainly ought to make some offer to his creditors. Mitchell said he was quite prepared to uav what he could when he obtained a job. -t resolution was carried that debtor’s discharge should be opposed until he had paid a dividend of at least 6/8 in the £. The disposal of the principal asset a motor-car—was left in the hands of the Official Assignee.