TOO OPTIMISTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 543, 21 December 1928, Page 12

TOO OPTIMISTIC

DRAPER’S BUSINESS FAILS According to his creditors this mornitig, John Arthur Allen "Woods, bankrupt draper, of Ponsonby Road, was too optimistic in waiting ror the Christmas rush. Woods, who met his creditors this morning, said that he had to file in bankruptcy owing to pressure for debts. He owed £3Ol to unsecured creditors, and his assets were £215. Debtor said that he had cleared £4OO during the first year’s business. He had begun with a capital of £125. It was on this assertion that he was questioned closely by the Official Assignee, Mr. G. N. Morris. Woods admitted to the assignee that his monthly expenditure had been roughly £46, and the turnover £l2l. Mr. Morris could not see how Woods made £4OO on the year’s dealing with such expenditure and a comparatively small turnover. “Another feature of this case is that Woods, according to several creditors, made wrong statements to them,” said Mr. Morris. For the bankrupt, Mr. W. W. Meek said that Woods’s takings had been £2,213 and his payments £2,025, so there had been a small margin. The assignee considered that Woods’s figures were inaccurate. Debtor said that, although he was out of work, he was prepared to wait for discharge until he had made an offer to his creditors. In his statement he said that he had lost a portion of his stock in a fire and, when he went into new premises, trade fell off.