A BAKER'S FLIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1920, Page 3

A BAKER'S FLIGHT.

BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS AT HAWERA. A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of Alea.vnder Cowie Miller, of Manaia, baker, was held at Hawera on Thursday. The creditors present or represented were: Messrs. A. L. Young, Newton King, and Burgess. Fraser and Co. Tha bankrupt was not present, and there was no statement from him before the meeting. The Deputy Official Assignee, who set down the- unsecured debts at about £270 and the assets at about £136, stated that Miller had been declared bankrupt on the application of Messrs. Burgess, Fraser and Co., of New Plymouth. About March 6th or 7th., the "bankrupt left Manaia for Wellington, telling his friends that he was going on a holiday. It appeared that in-"had in his possession a passport for Australia, secured some time previously, and shortly after arriving in Wellington he left for Sydney. So far he had not returned, find his address was unknown. He had gone into bankrupt's affairs, and had found things in a bad state. With the exception of a little debit day book were no books. The debts' were shown to be nominally about £260 or £'27o. There was a bill of sale over the Ptoci and chattels in favor of Mr. Newton Kin» for £386, of which £175 had been paid. The bill of sale was at present in the name of Andrew Leslie Yov.wj, who had nominally sold the business to bankrupt. The bill of sale should have been transferred to the debtor, but the documents were never completed and still held good over the stock and chattels. The best thing for the creditors to do was to find out how thev stood wih regard to the documents.

11l reply to a creditor, the* D.O.A. =aid he was of the opinion that the stock could not be included in a bill of sal" Practically none of the stock was left, with the exception of a ton of Hour He had not yet. pone into the value of the plant.

-Mr. Young said he had a claim for wages against the bankrupt of £2O. Against this there was a contra account of £B.

The D.O.A. said the ordinary outstanding accounts owing to the b'us : n>ss amount™ to about £9O. He 'had aliwiy sent notices to all debtors to ray Ihe accounts were small, none exce"dimr £2 or £3.

Mr Young stated that the plant was not in the same condition as when taken over by Mr. Miller.

Inc DO A. pointed out that the horse, va.utd at £7, and the eart value! at £IG, were not included in the £3M owmg to Mr. Newton King. The question of taking action to have the bankrupt brought back from Sydney was discussed, and it was pointed out that when he left he must have had in his possession £l2O, and before living had drawn a cheque for .-£BS, leaving a balance at the bank of £4',S. To bring the bankrupt back, it was stated, it was only necessary to prove that he had more than £2O in his possession when he left, but owing to the difficulty of locating him, the cost, and the possibility that the creditors -would jain nothing financially, it was decided to take no action, especially as the creditors would be able to claim against him a? an undischarged bankrupt should he return to New Zealand. Mr. Young said that Miller had received notice recently of his mother's death, and of a substantial sum of money being left him. A creditor remarked that the bankrupt was no fool. Had he register-id the transfer of the bill of sale he would not have been able to get credit. It was left with the D.O.A. to take legal advice with regard to the documents affecting the assets and call a meeting later.—Star.