EDWARD CULLINAN'S CREDITORS.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 994, 7 February 1883, Page 2

EDWARD CULLINAN'S CREDITORS.

A meeting of creditors in the estate of Edward -Cullman, grocer, was held at the Courthouse yesterday afternoon, about a dozen creditors being present ; and proxies for most of the others handed in by Mr E.

C. Horner. - - The chair was taken by Mr Barker, and the debtor was sworn. • Debtor’s statement of assets and liabilities, already published in the Mail, was read in detail, the liabilities being, represented as £BB9, and assets as £BB6. In answer to a question he said he had no proposal to make, but had handed over everything he had to his creditors, and was willing to answer any questions. Dr. Newman (Zohrab, Newman, & *Co., merchants, Wellington, creditors for £137, the highest single amount) ; Ho led us to believe all along he was solvent, and asked us to recommend him to other people as an eligible partner, I should like to know why he filed. The debtor: T bad a storeman with me who I believed would-go into partnership. I filed because T was'in debt and could not meet my engagements. 1 have put down the stock at cost price. Mr Gr. D. Hamerton : Were you pressed ? was there a writ against you ? The debtor : No ; but there were dishonored bills. The Chairman: Did you not call a private meeting of your creditors? The debtor: Yes. The Chairman ; Why did you hot attend it? ■

The debtor ? I had not got a correct statement prepared and stock taken. I found there was a mistake in some two hundred pounds. , , Dr Newman : Is it true that since you called a meeting of .your creditors, you have paid away certain of your stock ? The debtor : i Yes, to two parties, O’Sullivan and McLauchlin. Dr Newman : How much did yon pay to them ? The debtor : About £49 each., Dr Newman : Do you think it just that after calling a meeting you should pay some of the creditors ? The, debtor think r o£ it; I did not know better. Mr Hamerton : Have they proved for the balance, or are they put down for it. , The debtor :. No. They were liable for a hundred pounds to the bank. * Dr Newman : Do you still owe them the balance ? ‘ The debtor : No, I cannot owe it to them and to the bank too. The Chairman : Do [ understand you actually owed these men no money, more than that they were actually secured Tor on overdraft at the bank ; and you gave these goods to : these men after calling a ; meeting, because at some future date you intended to, file, and they were to have these goods to cover an overdraft due at the bank ? . - ' No answer. The Chairman : When did you last pay monies into the - bank ? i : : i . The debtor : About the Bth of last month. The Chairman : And you were carrying on your shop a long time and had no money in hand ? The debtor : I had not received much money in January, because I bad not time to get it in hand. - MrH. E. P. Adams (solicitor for debtor) : Were you not recommended by some of j’our creditors to file ? The debtor *. I was by Johnston and Co.’s traveller, who said some parties who got ’dishonored; blits would come oil me for the full amount, and others would get none. I thought it right to give every man an equal share. . : Dr Newman : You say you thought it right to : give every man an equal share, but before you failed you took very good care to secure two of your creditors?. Why ; did you not pay monej’ into the bank during January ? The'debtor: I thought the bank would keep the money. . Mr Norman : Why did I refuse to discount. the bill ? .... The debtor : You said j*ou would wpitf and see who the partner was to come Mr Norman : No ; I said you were de-' ceiving me from day to day about the partnership. ‘ Ther Chairman :Yon had a partner’ a short time ago, and be went out. What did 3 r on pay him ? The debtor: £l2O. L The Chairman : At that time were your Accounts gone into ? . The debtor : No. .- Dr Newman : What money did you Mart with ? ; •' ”- v ’ ’ ' f The debtor : I had £93, and my partner, /McKenna, had £5./ At the end of .seven I gave him £l2O to go out. ' . Dr Newman ; I should like to know if 'that is a square transaction. i The Debtor : That is what I have done, £but I have acted wrong. Dr Newman : You . must have known - Ifthat the ! £l2o belonged to your creditors, jf, The debtor: I could not get rid of him Mjy bther way. . ' ’ 7, Mr , Adams : Do. you : 'thirik you have gained getting rid,of McKenna ? , The debtor : Yes ; he weakened me a good deal. /.Mr Hamerton; Is if not true yon borrowed inone3' to pay him ? The debtor ; Yes. Mr Adams : Bankrupt came to me with Jobnstone and Go’s, traveller,. who: had bcCn- through his books, arid advised- blm to file, or Bannatyne and Co v of Wellington, Avouldscome ;ih)and-seize; all,he had. Dr Newman said_ that his firm and that of W. W. Bannatyne had rather more than a third of the' liabilities, and he proposed that he should, be appointed trustee with , Mr Horner. Ifwas not for the commission he wished to be appointed, as ho would allow Mr Horner four-fifths, .of that, but; it might be to advantage in realising the estate. On the motion of Mr Burke, seconded by Mr Adams, Messrs Newman and Horner were appointed joint trustees, at a joint commission of five per cent. Dr Newman asked if any creditor-had a i proposition .to make,, as to the way in which the estate, should be wound up. • The Chairman suggested that they should sell the goods for cash, as there had been so raanj auction sales of late. Dr Newman ; I should like to know whether there would be any chance of selling it as a going concern? The Chairman: Certainly not; there are too many going concerns now. (Laughter.) ■ ' ’ ; ■ Mr Adams, on behalf of the debtor,' asked for the £25 worth of clothing and, furniture , allowed by the Act, but the meeting declined to entertain the proposition. ■ . ,i