AN EXTRAORDINARY OFFICIAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1359, 21 April 1883, Page 4

AN EXTRAORDINARY OFFICIAL.

Someastounding discldsiiresliave been made (states the- Sydney Morning, .Herald) by. an investigation of the accounts'ofthelatoMr H, 11, Sempill, official assignee. The investigation was ma-lc under instructions from , the Colonial Treasurer in the early part of 1881. Mr Sempill had at first declined to submit his 'accounts to examination by the Treasury, but afterwards consented, and died before the'inquiry was made. * Mr Selwyn ; (Smith, on entering upon bis task,, was appalled bv the scenes before him and pven had thoughts of retiring from the undertaking.' His ■■ hesitation' was uot surprising. He found "all the papers and records of tho office in utter slums; heaps and piles and foiir-bUshel ba?s of letters, receipts, accounts, and estate books: rough drafts of accounts tiled or which should have been filed in the,court; official records actually ; belonging to tho Insolvent Court" all in confusion. He was engaged with his atalF for nearly three months iu the work of reading, sorting, arranging the' papers before he could proceed to ascertain how the facts really stood, After going through this preliminary work he opened , a ledger, and made 1 up' in aceurante form the accounts current of 1093 estates that had passed into lr ciempill's hands. The result was. .lie discovery of a net deficiency of £II,OOO, An incidental examination if the accounts in other estates produced the conviction that a close inquiry into them would have revealed .a far ''irgcr deficiency, The deficit - .of 11,000, however, created•' as it'• was ■ iiliin a period of about five years, was i sufficient illustration of the general results of Mr Sempill's modo of doing Hisiui'ss. Mr Selwyn Smith points ".it that the late official asssiguee iml irrecoverable.:loss to creditors '» inflecting bis duty in realising ;<ets fully disclosed in the, schedules t discovered to him by- creditors. Conditional purchases and freeholds »'cre uot dealt with, leaseholds were i iff red to lose their value by time, nd outstanding debts were left uncollected. Under such circumstances,' it is not to be wondered at that credi,.jrß in estates under Mr Sempill's Management were to a large extent iispoml to let their interests lapse. ! )fl3,394creditors nitmedby insolvents, wily 321 l took the trouble to make •roofs; and whilst the liability as 'vnrn by insolvents amounted to £625.380, creditors only proved for ~71,132. Some of the most signifi-. cant facts ascertained by the inquiry ;ire these The value of assets, us sworn bv insolvents, was £447,751, : and tho sum realised was £49,958, upon, which the expenses and deductions was £18,265, and the official assignee's charge was £5194,; so that the credi- • ors had to pay £23,000 for the recovery of the ridiculously small proportion of the assets actually realised.