CAMBRIDGE FLOUR MILLS. STATEMENT IN BANKRUPTCY. Auckland, May 24.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 372, 29 May 1889, Page 4

CAMBRIDGE FLOUR MILLS. STATEMENT IN BANKRUPTCY. Auckland, May 24.

A meeting ofcredibors in the bankrupt estate of Mr Richard Chambers was held yesterday afternoon. The following sworn statement made by tho debtor was read :—: — After a service of nineteen years as manager of a Hour mill in England, I came out to this colony in 1883, with my savings, amounting to £1,020. 1 landed in Auckland in October, 188?. Four months afterwards I obtained u situation as manager of n flour mill in the Waikato at a salary considerably loss than I had at home, and continued theio until January, 1885. Shortly afterwards I entered upon my presont undertaking at Cambridge — a flour mill — which 1 loaded for live years at £100 a year vetital, £1,000 being the purchase money. The machine) y was old, and I have had to spend £820 on improvements at various times. It never has been a puccess until this last jear. I I managed to clear £500. The first two years wero worked at a loss. At the end of that time the dam burst, Clausing lots and delay to the extent of C2OO. In the third year I had to wipe off nearly £400 of bad debts, and there was a further loss of nearly the same sum through a fall in tho prico of wheat, but the latter was compensated for in the fourth \ear when, as stated, I cleared £500, chiefly by a rise in price and tho production of a better class of Hour — the latter result being the fruits of expendituie on improvements. In order to carry on my business it was necessary to have a guaranteed Bank overdraft of £1,000. I 1 actually started with a capital of £675 — all that was left of the £],020. I brought to the colony. At the end of two years— say February. 1887— my indebtedness to the bank was £I,SOO, and it was then arranged that I should work under their supervision, and this has continued ever since. Seeing no prospect of retrieving myself, and in view of tho necessity for extensive repairs and improvements to anything like successfully compete with modern appliances without means or credit to carry on, I determined to file after offering to assign my estato. None of my creditors pies&ed me in any way. My books are thoroughly kept by doublo entry reported to date. My assets are all unencumbeied, and I have estimated values as follows : — Stock-in-trade, £750 9d ; book debts, £600 ; cash in hand, £55 Is ; insurance estates, £29 11s; furniture, £25; working plant, £500 ; and farming stock, iB5 : total, £2,045 Is. There are live creditors, and the claims amount to £2,036, of which the principal creditor claims £1,899 13s sd. After the above statement had been read, a letter signed by a number of Cambridge settlers was put in. It was stated therein that the settlers leai nod with very great regret of the probability of Mr Chambers's flour mills being closed, as he had done so much to stimulate wheat - growing in the district, and had proved that first-class flour could be produced from Waikato spring wheat. On the motion of Mr Allen, seconded by Mr Tewsley, it was decided, "That the Official Assignee and Mr Brooks, the representative of the Bank of New Zea'and, make at rangemen ts for the realisation of tho estate at their discretion, and that Mr Brooks be appointed supervisor, under the provisions of the Act, at a remuneration of £1 per cent, on tho net sum realised." The following motion was also agreed to: "That Mr Chambers be allowed to retain his furniture and household effects, and that the creditors recommend that Mr Chamber's services be retained, if possible, during the realisation of his estate."