Angry Creditors Denounce Bankrupt

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 451, 5 September 1928, Page 1

Angry Creditors Denounce Bankrupt

CHARGE OF WELSHING

PROSECUTION ASKED FOR

"Pure welshing,” “plausible tales>” ancl “absolute swindles” were expressions used by angry creditors this morning to describe some of the methods of Raymond Cecil Harding, a member of a bankrupt firm trading as the Harding Construction Company. Harding was subjected to a persistent examination, and a large number „t creditors unanimously passed a resolution that his affairs should go to the Crown Solicitor with a view to prosecution. William Frederick Jones, the other partner, will have his bankruptcy examined this afternoon. Mr. G. N. Morris, the Official Assignee, remarked after Harding’s examination that, as books had not been kept and credit had been obtained without reasonable chance of payment, that both Harding and Jones would probably be involved in a prosecution. The listed finances of the company were: Debts. £892; assets, £250; and the deficiency, £632. Harding’s debts were 2202, his assets £29, and the deficiency was £172. Jones’s liabilities reached £378. and his assets of £24 made the deficiency £354. STARTED IN DEBT

Both bankrupts said that they had started off in business when they were in debt. They lost on several contracts, and about £l7O on a display at the Auckland Winter Exhibition. They said the display led old creditors to believe that they were sound financially, and resultant pressure for payment forced them to file. Harding had gone to gaol because of an old debt, and Jones was also liable to go to prison. Harding said he came from Australia in 1923, and had taught the ukulele and the steel guitar, had been in a motor business, and had been a partner in a confectionery shop. “My wife won a double at the races, and with the money I started off in the construction company with Jones,” he said. Harding added that sickness in his family had taken a large amount of his money. To Mr. Morris, Harding said he was unable to keep books properly and had no record of profits or losses in the business. His dealings were mainly in cash. Mr. Morris asked bankrupt if a creditor who had pressed for payment had threatened bankrupt. “Only in the usual way,” Harding replied casually. Mr. Morris: You say your wife has got no money? Harding: Well, she had money until I borrowed it. A creditor’s representative askei Harding if he had done business as the “Rev. Harding.” “That’s a lie to say that —a- confounded lie!” broke out Harding. Mr. Morris: Just answer the question. Is it true? Harding: No. It’s not. It’s a confounded lie! BANKRUPT CAUTIONED “Now, you confine yourself to answering questions properly,’ cautioned Mr. Morris. “Don’t you use that language here.” Mr. O’Donnell, for a creditor: He’d better keep his temper as he has a lot of questions to answer. “Have you used names other than Harding?” asked another creditor's representative. Harding: No. The creditor's representative: Think again. Harding: I’ve no occasion to. The representative asserted that Harding had used the name of Cecil Raymond in dealing with a nam named Struther. Mr. O’Donnell put it to Harding that he would employ a man who "ould give a premium of £IOO to him (the bankrupt). Debtor denied that it w as a premium, but he would accept £IOO as a loan. For a creditor, Mr. Schramm alleged that Harding had advertised for men with capital and had got money by false means. “I put it to you that you picked up this scheme in Australia, where h is practised by ‘crooks,’” Mr. Schramm said. “You give men employment and take their capital.” “It is not a scheme —it’s a straightforward, honest deal,” Harding protested. Creditors: Absolute swindle; absolute swindle. Mr. Schramm described some of Harding’s methods as “pure welshing.” Debtor’s household affairs and some niotor transactions were examined closely. He told Mr. Morris that he hu<l borrowed from three men when the company could not pay its debts. “They didn’t ask how the company’s uffairs were,” he said. “The Crown Prosecutor can prosecute if ha likes. There is nothing Wr °ng and I am not ashamed of anything,” Harding said when his creditors passed the resolution. A smaller number of creditors attended William. Frederick Jones’s Meeting this afternoon. Jones in his sworn statement said “at he started as a bricklayer m a way in Devonport in 1919. Business fell away and he left in 1927. In January. 1928, he joined Ha.rding. He was a married man with a wife five children. He had been drawUg no cash at all from the Harding Company, ‘‘except for cigarettes.” The official assignee pointed out *° Jones that he had been in a house for 10 months, and he had Paid only £6 2s 6d rent. “Well, I was only on half wages,” s aid Jones. Air. Jones has certainly not had , • same hold of the business as HardJ og. That’s clear,” said the official assignee. “But whether he is clear fom all blame ar not is another question. Hoth men were obviously insolvent they went into partnership. I J 1;; submit the facts to the Crown Solicitor.”