CARRIERS IN DEBT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 536, 13 December 1928, Page 13

CARRIERS IN DEBT

FATHER AND SON BOTH BANKRUPT TALK OF PROSECUTION I Francis and Louis* Postlewaight, father and son, ol New Lynn, met their creditors this morning. Their carry-ing-for-contracts business had failed. Both men admitted that the business was about £SOO or £ COO in arrears in November, 1926, but it had been continued in the hope of picking up. A further admission that credit had been obtained while the business was insolvent led the official assignee, Mr. G. N. Morris, to remark at the end of the meeting that, were further evidence forthcoming, there might be criminal charges against the men for trading when they, were insolvent. In the financial statement of the business, £sll 7s lOd was the amount due to unsecured creditors. Assets totalled £195. Francis Postlewaight said that, he owed £4O 4s 6d to unsecured creditors, and his assets were £25. The amount due to secured creditors, £6OO, was met by securities estimated to produce £625. Louis Postlewaight’s unsecured debts were £347 34s 6d and he had no assets. After a long examination, the creditors passed a resolution that discharge should bo opposed until an effort had been made to meet the liabilities. The statement concerning the business said that it had been begun in 1919 with £2OO. The business was carried on with drays and horses until 1924, when the Postlewaights went in for motor-trucks on hire-purchase. Twelve horses were lost in swamps and through sickness and trade slackened. When a big contract was lost, the turnover dropped from £4OO a month at the rate of £ 80 a month. Under examination, Louis Postlewaight said that the business was about £ 500 or £ 600 behind when a truck was taken away in November, 1926. After that, three more motortrucks had been taken over, the supplying firm being informed that the business was in a bad way. Postlewaight admitted that fresh debts had been incurred when, the business was slipping back. “To pay my way, I drove trucks during the day and taxis at night for three months," Louis Postlewaight told the meeting.