SIGNED WHEN ASKED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 717, 17 July 1929, Page 11

SIGNED WHEN ASKED

CHEQUES ON VERBAL ARRANGEMENT BANKRUPT QUESTIONED Unusual statements that he had attached his signature to cheques in a business he had entered simply on a verbal arrangement were made by a bankrupt garage proprietor to his creditors this morning. The bankrupt, Richard Pilkington. asserted that he had made the payments “to help the other man. but he admitted that the other man was | only a chance acquaintance. The creditors were dissatisfied, and ’ they agreed to the suggestion of the j acting-official assignee. Mr. V. R. < Crowhurst, that the meeting should be j adjourned for two weeks so that subpoenas could be issued for the appear- i ance of the debtor’s partner and the landlord owning the business property, j “In December, 1925, a man who was 1 then conducting a service business at j Ellerslie—l knew him casually—ap- j proached me and asked me to guarantee verbally an order from a firm I of £25,” Pilkington said in his state- I nient. “I did so, but subsequently , found that the account was for some i £45. The man said that a partner- j ship he had been in was dissolved and : that he was carrying on by himself ‘ and doing good trade. He said that lie was an undischarged bankrupt and so could not start a banking account. “He suggested that an account in the name of the service station, with j my name as signatory to all cheques, i should be opened. 1 agreed, on a promise to be given 50 per cent, of the profits, provided that an audit of i the books was made. This was done, i and the business was shown to be sat- i isfactory. About the end of January i the man insisted on buying a car. saying that it would be needed in the business. After it was bought, he was absent for days at a time, and I understand the business decreased enormously. “I had nothing to do with the business or the ordering ol supplies. 1 , received no payment and did not know j what was going on. I had no ex peri- j ence. All I was called upon to do was j to sign cheques when asked at vari- i ous times.” CLOSE EXAMINATION Under examination by Mr. Crowhurst, bankrupt was called upon to answer a long list of questions. He said that there was no agreement in the business and he had started simply on the other man’s word. He had not taken steps to find out how the business progressed. Mr. Crowhurst: Did you sign cheques without referring to the finances of the business? —That is so. I did not know what goods were being ordered. Mr. Crowhurst decided that the position seemed to be fairly hopeless. In answer to persistent questions by creditors, Pilkington denied that he was interested in farm properties and that he had been approached by Financial agents for an explanation of his position. Several creditors commented on what they described as unsatisfactory answers, and Mr. Crowhurst said he was not certain if Pilkington had anything to hide. “I did not expect recompense under the arrangement,” Pilkington said. A Creditor: Do you mean to say you committed yourself to a heavy liabil- j ity purposely?—Unknowingly I did. The deficiency in Pilkington’s schedule was £249 19s (id. His assets were £BO and his liabilities £329 19s Gd.