OWING TO SLUMP.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18905, 21 January 1927, Page 12

OWING TO SLUMP.

ENGLISHMAN'S BANKRUPTCY. A creditors' melting in the bankrupt estate of George Edward iNoJeyA■jsoii, taxi driver/ of Glouccster tieet, was held yesterday, twelve creditors bopresent. 'The Official Assignee (Mr represented b t£ P fs assets were given as £125, the estimated value ot a fishing vessel, and the amount owmg to unsecured creditors £506 /s 3d. Iho cte ficicnev i" the estate was £431 /s aa. Bankrupt said that he started business as a cliaff-eutting, hauling,- and straw-pressing contractor m «« p ™£ wco district n January, 1928T* He Jiau £6OO, £SOO of whieh he bad borrowed from his wife. He did fairly well until the slump in 1922, when owing to arrears under a bill .of sale ho,was orced to sell; up. .He then ; started as a taxi-driver, using his wifes ca . He tried hard to pay off his debts. H son also drove-, as a taxi, a car provided by his wife. From May last, business, was slack, and just in the spring the cars were both burned, and for some months life had no means of employment until his wife was, enabled to buy another ear. He entered, also, into partnership with W. Barnett in the fishing trawler Tui about June. He put about £l3O into the venture, but it turned out to be a failure. He could not pay his debts, and the only course was to file. He attributed his bankruptcy to the slump of 1922, entering into partnership in the trawler, and being thrown out of work through the destruction of the taxis. "A man in your position should not have continued trading, paying off on the old debts and incurring new.ones which you had no chance of repaying, said the Official Assignee. Bankrupt said that he realised now that he should not have kept on. The Official Assignee said the bankrupt's intentions had been quite honest, though he had been wrong in carrying on as he did. Mr Johnston said that bankrupt was an English gentleman and not experienced in modern business methods. He had not.known enough of business when he started. Creditors agreed that bankrupt had . been'conscientious and hard-working. I It was decided to realise on the boat Tui, and the meeting adjourned sine die.