Our Stratford Page

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 200, 21 February 1912, Page 3

Our Stratford Page

IN BANKRUPTCY.

AN INSOLVENT PAINTER. A meeting of creditors in the estate of Osborne Reader was held in the D.O.A.'s office this morning. Creditors present were: Messrs. Mac Donald (Central Co-op. Store Co.), F. Mullen (Mullen &. Marshall), T. Wilson (Wilson, Drake & Co.), Downie (Browne & Co.). The bankrupt was present with his solicitor (Mr. R. Thomson). The debts amounted to £92 8s Id, and the only asset was the furniture, valued at £35, leaving a deficiency of £57 8s Id. The unsecured creditors were: —Bellringer Bros., £3 16s 2d; Wickham Bros., £4 7s sd; Young, Hobbs & Co., £6 13s 6d; W. Rowe, £5; Jas. A. Thompson, 14s 6d; .T. Masters & Son, £2l IBs sd; R. H. Robinson, £2 t)s; Kemp & Sawle, £1 8s sd; Dwyer & Lennon, £2 13s 6d; Central Co-op. Stores, £3 19s 4d; Mullen & Marshall, £3 3s lid; W. C. Cargill, £3 12s 9d; Clayton Bros., lis 6d; J. Hume, £2 Os 7d; Newton King, £5 Kte 2d; Wilson & Drake, £l3 lis; W. & E. Brocklebank, £1 2s 6d; Henry Brown & Co., £lO 2s sd.

The bankrupt, in his statement, said he was a painter and paperhanger, and J prior to March, 1911, had been working' for his father on time wages, averaging £2 a week. On his brother' giving up business, his brother and he had been working together, but had lost money on every job prior to December last, the losses being due to bad weather and not to any fault of his own, as in most cases he had worked anywhere from eight to twelve hours a day. Since March 1 last he had received about £llO, and held tradesmen's receipts for £lO5, a part of which was for accounts owing before March. He had not wasted or spent money in any way foolishly. He did not drink, bet or gamble. He had paid whenever he could, and would still do so if he were able. He had dealt ] twice in land. Three years ago he had bought a property from Mr. F. W. Wake for £9O and sold for £l6O. Then In August, 1910, he bought Mr. Tichbon's property in Regan street West for £750, paying £75 deposit—his profit on the previous deal. The balance was left on two mortgages, one of £SOO at 6 per cent., and a second of £l7's at 5 per cent, to the vendor. Off the first an in- { Btalment of £25 ,was to be paid each I year. This, added to the interest, rates j and insurances, amounted to £73 4s j a year. lie occupied the property him- j self, but couldn't keep up the payments, and was forced to sell at £777 10s. Out of the sale he received £6B 17s 6d, but as one of the terms of sale he had to erect two extra rooms to the house, costing over £6O, so he came out with absolutely nothing, and also lost his £75. He was a married man, with a wife and four children (the eldest aged seven) to keep, and had no property but his furniture. He had had no wish to take the present step, but through insufficient time to recuperate, and being uuable to meet several accounts before the 9th inst., and for which he had been sued, he had been forced to file. The D.A.O. said he knew that the bankrupt's statement regarding the purchase and disposal of Mr. Tichbon's property was correct. Mr. McDonald thought that on selling the first property the bankrupt should. have thought of his creditors. \ The bankrupt stated that when he sold the first property he was solvent, and lie could have paid 20s in the £ when he bought the second property. His wages of £2 a week had sufficed to keep him. The D.0.A.: What has been your experience, Mr. McDonald ?—lt has been lan old friend. I forget how old it is. [ The bankrupt stated that Mr. McDoni aid's account was for bread supplied before August, 18 months ago. It transpired that about £25 of the liabilities in the estate were owing at the time of his dealing in the second property. The firm had about £l5O in hand now. He shared the profits with his brother. '

In answer to the D.0.A., the bankrupt stated that no creditors had secured judgment against him, but several sum: mouses had been issued, and these were not proceeded with when he filed. The-D.O:A. said that seeing no creditor had obtained judgment, and that no orders were threatened, he did not think the bankrupt had done the right thing in filing and thns preventing the creditors from obtaining their moneys due. If his position was such that his earnings were insufficient to enable him to live and to pay up back debts, then he had nothing to fear, for under such circumstances it was very improbable that the Magistrate would make an order against him. Had lie not filed, his creditors would have received money as he earned it. or to have sued and obtained an order of the Court. It seemed to him that there had not been sufficient excuse for filing. The bankrupt would have had nothing to fear in Court proceedings. As it was, he had paid probably £8 or £!) in the expenses of his bankruptcy, and that money would have paid a dividend of about 2s in the £, and the creditors would doubtless have been very glad to get it and hold off. The bankrupt had not been well advised in filing, but the question was, what was the best offer he could make?

Mr. McDonald asked if there were any partnership counts, anything in comcV—The bankrupt stated that there was something owing to the partnership, but there were liabilities which would balance this. The D.O.A. said that the books of ths partnership would have to be produced for his inspection. "Bankrupt said he expected £3O in about six weeks, but had no money otherwise, having borrowed from his brother the money to pay the expenses of riling. After discussion, the bankrupt said he would be prepared to make an offer of i 10s in the £, to be paid in twelve months.

Tt was decided that the bankrupt's discharge be facilitated upon payment by him of 10s in the £, in instalment of 2s Cd or more in the £, paid periodically, the first instalment, together with the preferential rent claim, to be paid within eight weeks from date. The meeting was then adjourned for a week, in which the D.O.A. will make an investigation of the affairs of the partnership.

NEWTON KINO'S STRATFORD WEEKLY REPORT. At the Haymarket on Saturday there was a large attendance. Pigs were yarded in larger numbers than previous sales. The demand was good, resulting in a rise of prices all round, every lot being disposed of at the hammpr, with the de-

* From Our Resident Reporter. * * Office: No. 3, York Chambers, Stratford. * 4» * #************■******************

mand exceeding the supply. I quote slips and weaners 12s 6d to 19s, backward sorts ss, small stores £1 5s to £1 10s, medium do. £1 13s to £1 loSj light porkers £2 10s, medium to good £2 15* to £2 17s 6d; sows £2 .17s. AT THE MART. A fair entry of all classes of birds came to hand, and were cleared at the hammer at prices on par with last sale. Killing hens Is 3d to Is 9d, eockerilk 9d to Is 3d, ducks Is 3d to Is 7d, ducklings Is 9d. Potatoes 6s 6d to 7s cwt, bicycle £5 10s, furniture and sundries as usual. Fruit.—About 800 cases assorted fruit came to hand during the week, and prices ruling were, if anything,' a little better than last week. Plums, Burbanks Is 9d to 2s fid, Ogon Is 6d to 2s 3d, Diamond 2s to 2s 9d, Satsuma 2s 6d to 3s '6d, greengage 3s Od; peaches, No. 1 is 9d to 5s Od, No. 2 3s 6d to 4s tid; tomatoes, 3s 9d to 6s 6d; nectarines, 5s to 8s Oi; apples, 2s 9d to os Cd; pears, 3s Cd to 6s; cucumbers, 2s to 2s <id, according to size of case and quality.-

ELECTRIC LIGHT QUESTION fHE PROPOSALS CRITICISED. Councillors Healy, Morison, and Paget addressed a meeting of ratepayers in the Town Hall to-night in opposition to the Borough Council's electric light loan proposals. There were between 300 and 400 present. Mr. P. F, Rafle presided. Cr. Paget,-in the course of his speech, roundly condemned the scheme, and dealt forcibly with the proposal to take over a plant which was obsolete and out-of-date, and because its periodicity was such that it was quite impossible to purchase any machinery in the Dominion to work in with it. Criticisng the Mayor's figures, Cr. Paget said Mr. Masters had ! claimed that the profit /on, the working account of the company last year was £1043, and that the council was entitled "to add to that .the sum of £338 which he claimed would be saved, viz., bank interest £196, income tax £42, secretary's salary £IOO. Mr. Masters also claimed that £450 extra profit would be immediately forthcoming, earned by the new plant which the company was now about to set up. Cr. Paget pointed out that the net profit last year was £543, and the Mayor told them that the council would just about double that. He (the speaker) claimed that the yearly expenses of running the concern would be as follows, several of the items mentioned having been missed out of the Mayor's, estimate of the expenses:—

Goodwill extinction account 545 Interest on £II,OOO at 5%' per cent 558 Sinking fund on machinery 750 Charges on payment of interest at Sydney ~„> » 2 A total annual charge of —1855 This showed a loss on the working account ol £124. The capital of £14,000 must be divided into £4OOO for the goodwill account aiid £II,OOO for the working account. Since the concession to the company only lasted about another seven years it followed that that goodwill must be'extinguished in seven years or so, which entailed a cast against the working account of £545 pejr. annum. Mr. Masters had not allowed for this, or for depreciation. On the basis i of a loss of £124, as shown, per annum,' the council would be £IO2O Out of pocket in the seven years. But that, £450 of ex-tra revenue estimated by the Mayor could safely be cut down to £l5O per 1 annum, which would leave a loss of £424 per annum. This loss would be made each year, and this amount, would be doubled in the second year, plus the 514 per cent, interest, and so on each year, until at the iend of the seven years the accounts would show a loss of about £3230.

Cr. Healy said that Mr. Masters was wrong in saying that the council would save the secretary's salary of £IOO, for the secretarial work would have to be paid for whoever did it. Then the Mayor's estimate that the day load would earn £450 extra was purely assumption. There was pot a single ■figure to warrant it. Giving the Mayor •the benefit of all his assumption thei speaker could see only £7l per year profit in it if reasonable depreciation were allowed. He advised the ratepayers to wait till the icnd of the concession and then take over the concern at a fair valuation, not at the priee asked now. Cr. Morieon spoke on similar lines, saying this was a very bad bargain for the ratepayers. The Mayor was making a mistake in saying that the borough lighting bill was £300; it was only £261, including £47 for Town Hall lighting, which wag, of course, repaid by people using the hall. The estimate that i it would cost £SOO or £6OO to light the street in a couple of years was purely guess-work. He informed the ratepayers that they could erect an up-to-date plant like that put in at Hastings for £BOOO, so why pay £14,000 for this obsolete one.

Cr. Paget said that a chartered accountant had been engaged by the opponents of the scheme to investigate the company's balance-sheet, and the accountant said that £4OOO was far too much to pay for the goodwill. On the basis of the history of the company for four years past half that amount would be a handsome offer on the part of the council. The company had paid in dividends £I7OO in its' lifetime, and it was remarked that the assets shown by the company in its balance-sheet had been written down by the valuators by £1703, so really the* company had not learned any profit at all. The* opponents had asked three well-known electrical engineers if they would advise taking, over a 100 volt 40 periodicity plant. One had answered emphatically, "Mo!"' The second said "No!" and the third said this: "That a 100 volt lighting plant is very low, but lamps can be supplied more cheaply. For motor works single phase is rather unusual. The motors are costly as compared with three phase. Forty periodicity is not objectionable, except that it is not a standard, so that you are limited to makers. You may, or may not, be aware that fifty periods is a standard practice. Your system at Stratford is not economical owing to the low voltage you work at, which will be discovered when the Diesel engine is running." Several questions were asked and answered.

GENERAL NEWS. The little two-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Potroz, of the York road, Waipuku, was accidentally drowned this morning by falling into a well near the house. Dr. Stevens was summoned, hut life was extinct when he arrived. An inquest will be held on Wednesday. Mr. G. Shepperd, representing Messrs. Booth, McDonald and Co., informs me that in the past few weeks he has placed £2500 worth of oil engines in this dis-

trict, principally suitable for driving milking machine plants. A number of Scottish friends spent a highly enjoyable night as the guests of Mr. and Mrs. G. Sangster on Monday evening. There were bagpipes and Scotch dancing galore, an enticing supper, Scotch songs, and real, warmhearted Scotch hospitality. The guests speak most highly of the evening's entertainment. The Midhirst Dairy Co.'s suppliers receive £3250 for January milk. Some of the factory payments fluttered into our retailers' tills to-day. j Mr: - Alex. Henderson, of Mr. Newton King's Stratford staff, who was married recently, was presented on Saturday night by his fellow employees with a handsome silver cheese dish. Mr. P. Thompson, t>f the same staff, who has also entered the bleeeed realms recently, was presented at the same time with a silver afternoon tea service. A meeting of the Stratford Swimming Club committee was held to-night. Amongst other business, it was decided to call a meeting of delegates of the various Tarahaki clubs with a view to having the Taranaki' centre affiliated to the; New Zealand centre.