TALE OF MISFORTUNE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 787, 7 October 1929, Page 10

TALE OF MISFORTUNE

ANOTHER BANKRUPT BUILDER WRONGFUL SEIZURE SUGGESTED Attributing his failure to speculating in house and land properties, and to domestic troubles, Clarence David Jones, builder, of Avondale South, received unusual sympathy when he met his creditors this morning. A nominal surplus of £34 was shown on bankrupt’s financial position. The sum of his total debts to unsecured creditors amounted to £541, while to secured creditors he owed £BBS. His total assets were £575. Bankrupt said that he began building on his own account in 1913, and until March, 1924, he was fairly successful. In 1925 he met with an accident, driving a chisel through his left hand and injuring it permanently. This caused him to lose a good deal of time aud money. In 1925 he lost his youngest child. His business was still doing fairly well, and he had as many contracts as he could handle. For che year ended March, 1925, he showed a profit of about £6OO. He speculated in property, but prices were very high, and he could not realise when he wanted to, and he was forced to hold on to the properties or to sell them at a loss. In 1926 his wife became very ill, and she had to go to the hospital for 16 months. This cost him a great deal of money. About 12 months ago his workshops at Avondale were burned down and he lost all his books and a good deal of stock and material. He was then forced to sell a property at Remuera, losing about £3OO on the deal. If his assets realised what they were worth there -would be sufficient to pay his creditors in full. During the last 12 months, bankrupt said that he had been doing contract work and had reduced his debus considerably. “And bad I not had creditors continually calling at the back door and front door, and had I been left alone I think I would have been able to clear up everything,” he said. Two months ago he had gone to Westport, where he had bettered his position. At the meeting this morning there was a suggestion of wrongful seizure regarding some of Jones's property, and the meeting was adjourned for the official assignee to make investigations.