LABOUR-SAVING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 238, 8 October 1928, Page 8

LABOUR-SAVING.

SPRAT SYSTEM BLAMED. MOTOR PAINTERS' FAILURE. The introduction of the spray system of painting was stated by Thomas Joseph Muldoon and Rupert John Muldoon, motor painters, of 35, St. - Paul Street, Auckland, to have been the principal contributing cause of their failure. At a meeting of creditors to-day, it was agreed unanimously to accept an arrangement for the payment of a 10/ in the £ dividend. A joint statement signed by T. J. Muldoon showed that the business was started in June, 1925, in Khyber Pass Road, with a capital of , £30. A fair amount of private custom was received, and prospects appeared good, but, with the introduction of the spray system of painting and also the effect of the motor regulations in curtailing the building of passenger buses, they soon found they were faced with a hard task- to hold their own. "By cutting down our wages to a bare necessity, we managed, while we were battling with hard times, to weather the winter of 1927," continued the statement. "Working late hours during the summer rush of work, we pulled clear of debt, with the exception of one balance still owing. Hoping for trade depression to lift, and with new customers we had secured, we faced the winter of 1928, but with competition becoming still more keen through the spray system, and with the trade slump as bad as ever, „we decided to interview our two main creditors, who advised us to take the course we have taken." Examination by the Official Assignee (Mr. G. N. Morris) elicited the fact that the concern was solvent at the beginning of the present year, and that most of the liabilities had been incurred subsequently. The principal creditor mentioned that bankrupts had not informed him how they stood when they obtained credit. "They filed before the position became desperate," remarked Mr. Morris. The case was left in the hands of the Official Assignee, who was empowered by special resolution to dispose of certain plant for the benefit of the creditors.