A BANKRUPT'S STORY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 96, 17 January 1919, Page 5

A BANKRUPT'S STORY

.iCKNESS AND ALLEGED PERSE- ;: .-; CUTION. •■ v The! circumstances which led Frw*i3 Charles James : Olson, photographer, cf Ngaio to file his petition in bankruptcy wero 'investigated', -at a' ! l ineeting',.cf creditors held by the.: Official. Assignee (Mr. S. Tausley) yesterday. Bankrupt attributed his present position to' the Government edict, that photographers' were riot to be allowed on the wharves, sickness, and the high cost of Hying. He said that he was in business in Lyttelton for fifteen years. .Wheri the 1913. strike came: along ho received a set-back.. However, he did his utmost, and had almost recovered when the war broke out, and he was accused of being ari alien. : -: Oil one occasion he was escorted: from, a ;>hip at the point of' the bayonet. Nevertheless,'he remained.at Lyttelton for twelve months,: where ho alleged he Was persecuted from all quarters, and the authorities made, things so bad, that he-could see that he was done. He'then came to 'Wellington, and took over the .Ly all Bay. Tea Rooms, but, . this enterprise.. soon- lapsed owing to the whole family contracting diphtheria, and six of his daughters were ■removed to the. hospital.: ..Later, he established a photography business at Ngaio,: and- again' illness took a hand in his-fortunes. On this occasion the family .suffered an attack of chickeiippx. Following this he started out again; and established a business-in tile King Country, and then came the influenza epidemic. Up till the time the.epidemic broke out he was making Rood. He remained in the.! .King .Country for, a time helping with--the nursing of patients, when he heard that his wife and family were down with the malady at Ngaio.' He. had a family of ten children—eight girls,and two boys—one boy had been recently killed in action, and the other recent-' ly returned, but was still suffering from disability contracted on service.

The bankrupt's financial statement showed assets to the, value of £20, and unsecured £171 4s; '■ 4d., leaving : .a deficiency ,of. £151. 4s. 4d. .The principal creditor's- were:—Wellington . Hospital,: £50; Mr;. M-'Gill,' monumental mason, Wellington, £33; Hill Bros., motor engineers, Christchurch, £27;' and Sargood, Son; and Ewan; Christchurch, £IS. <;.•'• ■ Questioned as to his prospects,' the bankrupt ..stated that his business hadbeen .-absolutely, ruined as far as the wharves were concerned. '- He was accused of having been interned," and had been turned off the . ships. He had been persecuted, right and left ever since the war began,, ; and hn would have done his utmost to make good had hot one creditor-forced him to file through issuing-a warrant,- - His present .circumstances barely (permitted' him to exist.' / '.: ,'

Asked as to how he came to be; .persecuted,. the bankrupt stated that' he was said to have been a German, but he was a colonial—his. father Avas' a Dane. Religion had also been cons cerned in his persecution. The Official Assignee. remarked that' the case was undoubtedly one of exceptional hardship and there did not appear to be.any chance of the bankrupt making, an offer, The Creditors- 'present agreed, and the case was adjourned sine die.