BANKRUPT NARROWLY AVOIDS PROSECUTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 373, 6 June 1928, Page 15

BANKRUPT NARROWLY AVOIDS PROSECUTION

MOTORS’ OPERATIONS

BOOKS QUITE INADEQUATE

yyhtn Lawrence Edward Dwyer ooeared before his creditors this '.groins ‘0 explain the operations ( uj, business under the name of 5 ■ {Viators, he confessed that his Kooks were so inadequate that he unable to prepare an intellijgnt statement of his affairs. r-editors discussed the question of .cine his case in ,he hunds of the ■'* „ but in the face o£ an offer from . father-in-law. yielding approxi'_"tcly 6s Sd in the £, further proIdmgi were not instituted. the last meeting of bankrupt ’s Editors, it was revealed that in eight Mtha he had lost between £3,000 S ,h £4,000 in running a service be-Z-ten Auckland and Hamilton, and it L»s mainly in this connection that the Pißcial assignee, Mr. G. N. Morris, questioned him this morning. Mr. Morris said it was impossible ■curately to get down to bankrupt's Yje position, Dwyer himself having ioisrepresenetd the debts to the cred- , rs at a meeting in February. Dwyer was questioned closely renecting his transactions with several otor-cars, his declaration that a Suiting agent in Hamilton owed him : “ re at deal of money being dis'mmted by Mr. Morris, who said in,,dries had been made there. ’Bankrupt: I can prove that he owes B *Mr^Morris: I am not interested in *hat you can prove. You misled your editors in February as to your debts. Bankrupt: I put in the claims X had. some of them were not in. Mr Morris: Well, I am sure that it will be found that you own more than £7OO you gave. [t was revealed that bankrupt’s father-in-law, who had lent Dwyer money for the buses, had offered £750, which was expected to produce about (a 8d in the £ for creditors. (This offer was accepted.) CREDITORS MISLED Mr. Morris said the facts could be brought before the Crown Solicitor if creditors wished to proceed with a prosecution. It was obvious that the books had been hopelessly inadequate, and bankrupt had misled his creditors, jo gaining further time and additional consideration. This would not have been given if creditors had been acnuainted of the actual position. A discharge certainly should be opposed until Dwyer had paid something off his debts —say 5s or 7s 6d in the £l. Two or three creditors expressed a desire to give the bankrupt a chance, and eventually a resolution was passed declaring the determination of the creditors to oppose discharge until a urther dividend of 2s 8d in the £ had been paid by bankrupt. Dwyer’s solicitor, Mr. Bryce Hart, said there was no dishonesty of purpose about the bankrupt, but his business methods were hopeless. If given a Job, he could place a little aside weekly and thus pay off some of his liabilities. „ It was mentioned that Dwyer was employed by a motoring firm driving a car for wages.