NOT BANKRUPTCY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 103, 22 July 1927, Page 7

NOT BANKRUPTCY

AN ASSIGNED ESTATE’ PETITION -DISMISSED That in October last debtor had a deficit of £9OO and had failed to disclose his position to his creditors, was the allegation made in the petition of L. S. Maxwell and Co., Ltd., for the declaration of Charles Bunker a bankrupt. The petition was heard by His Honour Mr. Justice Adams, Mr. W. A. Beattie appearing for the for the petitioners and Mr. L. G. Simpson for the debtor. Mr. Beattie submitted that although he knew that he was insolvent, debtor obtained further finance. During the following seven months he got further in debt, but even when he met his creditors in May he did not disclose his position. Mr. Simpson denied that Bunker knew he was insolvent when he ordered goods in February. Debtor, he said, reasonably anticipated making a profit on contracts he had in hand. The creditors had passed a resolution that the estate should be administered under a deed of assignment. His Honour said that no doubt the debtor had been careless in not keeping himself properly informed of his position, but he would hesitate to stigmatise it as “gross misconduct.” He thought that in the circumstances the will of the creditors ought to be allowed to prevail and that the execution of the deed of assignment was not an act of bankruptcy. The petition was dismissed, petitioner being allowed 10 guineas costs out of the trust estate.