“Unfortunate and a Bit Foolish”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 261, 25 January 1928, Page 12

“Unfortunate and a Bit Foolish”

BANKRUPT AND WIFE BOARDINGHOUSE FAILURES “I am supporting my mother at the moment, and I get only fourteen bob on this public works job. I’m afraid that I can’t do anything just now, but as soon as I get some money, I’ll do my best to square things up.” This was the assurance given by H. McCormick, a bankrupt labourer, who met his creditors this morning in the office of the deputy-official assignee, Mr. V. R. Crowhurst. “This man has been unfortunate, but also a bit foolish,” said the deputyofficial assignee, summing up his examination. McCormick owed £177 to unsecured creditors. In a written statement bankrupt said that up till 1919 he was farming near To Aroha. Ho sold his farm and bought a boarding house in Hamilton for £1,600, which included furniture and goodwill. His wife ran the concern and he was there part of the time. He was also doing contracting work. “We carried on the boarding house for about two years, but did not make a success of it,” said McCormick. “I sold out, losing £IOO on my purchase price. Later the farm I had sold in 1919 came back on my hands under memorandum of mortgage. I went back and worked on it myself, but lost heavily. I was there about two years, when I sub-mortgaged the mortgage. I had over the first boarding house to secure money to put my wife in another boarding house.” In December, 1925, bankrupt sold the farm. After paying debts, McCormick came to Auckland with about-£750. He bought the lease of a boarding house in Khyber Pass for £ 650, and his wife ran the place. “A large number of debts were incurred, and these I had to meet, though really I was not liable,” bankrupt went on. “I took a bill of sale from my wife for £9OO over the furniture to secure the money I had put into the business. Later I was persuaded by my wife to release my bill of sale and allow her to raise money on the furniture. My bill was put back on a second change. She did not make a success of the boarding hohse, the furniture was sold up, and I lost everything.” “I. consider my present position is due to the manner in which I have financed my wife, believing that she would be successful in the conduct of the boarding houses. Instead she was not successful, and I have lost all the money that I put in to the three places,” concluded McCormick. “This man has had three boarding houses, none of which was successful,” said a creditor. “I think he has been misled and overwrought by his wife.” ‘He has had a bad time all right,” said Mr. Ready, who appeared for bankrupt. “He stood to his wife, who was never candid about her liabilities. She borrowed £145 from bankrupt’s mother.” No creditors were present, and no resolutions were passed.