SENSATIONAL BANKRUPTCY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4672, 17 March 1894, Page 2

SENSATIONAL BANKRUPTCY.

4 Man with Many Bankers,

A meeting of oreditorsinthe estate : of'..P. Anderson was held fit the Official Assignee's office, Wellington,: yesterday morning, Mr Aeboroft pre- : . siding. There was t> largo attendance of , creditors - and their representatives, . 1 and Mr Gully was present as solicit •:■■■■• tor for the-Assignee;-Mf-Ghennells, "v Deputy. Assignee at Masterton/waa ::: also present, „ . The. following are■; the'prinoipal v;y? creditora: —Turnbull and Co., 7s; lOd; Aitkon, Wilson £256 17b 9J; E. : BetftptfltilH £207 08 7d; Dutbie and Co;, 2s 10d ;. Levin and Co., £126 6s Johnston , and Co., £6l'l3s 9d; Myers and Co., £77 6s 9d; Hayman aucl Co., £49,4s sd; Bannatyne and • Co., £5703 4d'j E, Anderson, £sl6s 86} Geo, Th'onift9, V £6O ' ; v 3dj Mather and Co., £4l IBs liins and Field, £53 lis ld;-JrArtbur . and, Co., £4l9s BdV Scott and Co,, . ' £1815p; Jameson, Anderson and . Co,, £26 8s lOd j E. Arnold, £l2lßs 6d. Total ascertained' liabilities, £1561.

, Tbo Assignee said that be had never ' bad such a osso as this .before him' till cow.' The first suspicions., were . aroused on tho 2nd March, but it was not till the Bth Marok that a petition was lodged. They Followed up every cine', till the most extraordinary:'state of things tvas discovered. Anderson was a perfebi' ohameleon'/' He started : in the colony at Auckland as Williams. . Then he-' proceeded to New Ply-" mouth, and was known there as Williams.. At Masterton he appeared as Anderson,, and he doubted ' much whether ; this. was bis right namei. He. was also known as George Thomas, Hugh Smith, , and James Stewart, while in Sydney lie was now known as (Jopeland, The; net result of the' investigation was that he (Mr Ashordft) had stopped £lOBl in four banks, It was found that the same - Roman hand appeared throughout the - proceedings,'' 'He had seen nothing' to lead bim to suppose that Mr Hooper, bankrupt's store .manager at Masteiton was "concerned in the soheme, Williams had an aocount at New Plymouth, In Masterton the first entry in the bank book was £l5O, - and there was a subsequent entry of for £l7B, but itfe found tbat this alleged accommodation bill was dated three weeks later. 1 -There was a bank account in tho name of > .Thomas; into which, payments had , been' made from Anderson's Master" ton account, one accouut dove-tailing ; into the other in an extraordinary way. Another remarkable clue was that Anderson had given' to Mr Lodder, of the; City, Buffet, four names which letters Taught come to him, and these named, agree with the four bank accounts,': It had been ascertained that he had left for Sydney by'the Tarawera, and that aMr andMisa Piokott went by the same boat, but there was no suspicion that they were in anyway connected with the frauds.. .It had ■ been found' that certain merchants had been ordered to send goods to the Pickett's at Akitio Station, Wairarapa, and charge them to Anderson. Three cheques had oome to threepf;.,the ' banks from Sydney,- presemed after the Tarawera's arrival there,-and to 1 be paid oh cable advice. These wero: in the names of George; Thomas, James Stewart, and Charles Williams. .Two, which came through feUnion Bank, were endorsed James] "Copeland," and there was a singular fact coiineoting these oheques that each • was payable to " business," and in each case, .the word was wrongly spelt. The cheques were sent on tho terms" cable result," and amounted to übout £7OO. Besides the Plymouth account, he had an account in the name of Georgo -Anderson at, the Bank of New South Wales, Wellington, to which he bad i! 450 cabled from Sydney, and withi other moneys taken to New Plymouth, he had something like £Boo.when,he came from Australia. It was a re» markable case .of 'a. man being too sbarp, and leaving 'clues, behind, bub he had evidently trusted to hot'being found out so soon, and; but for 'the diligence of Mr Myers, one of the creditors) hp would not have been found out in time. The liabilities wero estimated at £1561, and £l5O move in profits had just come in, The Btock at Masterton was a very goo 3 one, and estimated at from £6OO to • £BOO, and there was £4OO of book debts wiiioh the manager said were all good. Here was a total offsets of £2OBO. Debtor oame over with £BOO, and the probability was that-with the money he had with bim ha had lost some £2OO, and wanted to shunt the loss on to bis creditors, but now, probably,' there would be 20a in thj) £, and tho oxpensos would have to be born'o by the bank' rupt, They would probably now admit that the Bankruptcy Act could im exercised promptly when jnloFmatipt* was given, This was the sixth of absconding sinoa shortly before lie' (Mr Aehcroft) c»me here. They bad succeeded in two and failed in two. Mr Ohennells,', Deputy-Assignee at Masterton, had asked that tho estate be removed there, but he would leave tho matter to the creditors.

Mr complimented-, the Asaigneß upon and thought the creditor* would prefer the eata<o to bo aornitiistered #t Wellington, Mr' Gale also thought the estate 1 should remain in Mr Ashcroft'ehabds. Ibc creditors were much indebted to Mr Myers, and to the action taken ly the Assignee. They should certainly get. the baukrupt back. The Assignee said they hoped to da 80.

Mr Beeves said that they sliooKf also accotd oredit to young Mr Joe Myers, who had ferreUed the mutter out from tho smallest.sf oluea—- ' merely a remark ho happened to hear as to Anderson's movements. Ha and others tuwbom the matter was — told could see nothing in it,, as thercM was enough money in 'tlie bank at 1 Mastortoo to meet enrrect billg, and. there was the information': that.Anderson was to be marrietl, and th its \ the bouse wan boing prepared. Mr JOB Myers, however, pwrsiated that, fresh developments would tako place;, and ferretted them out. Ou the motion of Mr Beaurismp (Ballantyne&Oo.), seoonded by Mr Gale (Johnston I Co.), it was resolved ' that Mr ifudah Myers aak as Supervisor with the Assigns ut administering the estate, at the remuneration • appointed by the Act, and that any expoQBQS. bo far mourred by hinrbs- ■ paid out of the estate, The Assignee said the stook. was so *<■ good that be thought n inadvisable to aqotion jt.Mr Ohenuells thought that • it.would bo better,tajiave- a -oheap' : salo, r The Dieting then sdiouraed sine . , '■ \ i-clj