DISSIPATED FORTUNES

Waipukurau Press, Issue 311, 22 September 1908, Page 7

DISSIPATED FORTUNES

London, August 1. That “ a fool and his money are soon parted ” is a very ancient proverb, but even in his wildest imagination the author could never have conceived the possibility of a man with £48,000 a year becoming a bankrupt. Such a case, however, amazing though it may seem, is vouched for by Mr J. G. Wills, InspectorGeneral in Bankruptcy, in his report for the year ending December . 31st last, issued yesterday. li Failures due to personal extravagance are noteworthy.” Mr Willis says, “ for the rapid manner in which debtors succeeded in dissipating substantial inheritances.” 'The individual who accomplished the extraordinary feat of becoming bankrupt on £48,000 a year was a baronet whose title devolved upon him in 1886. At the age of twenty-four he inherited an annual income of no less than £40,878. Owing to extravagance he soon got into debt, and in eighteen years owed the immense sum, of £459,000 secured on his life estate and insurance policies. The number of policies on the baronet’s life reached the astonishing total of 373, valued at £478,500, while he had also unsecured debts amounting to £46,000. As the only way of extricating the baronet from his financial embarrassment a special Act of Parliament was passed in 1904 entitling the trustees to buy his life estates and policies, pay his unsecured debts, and make him an allowance. But his expenses still continued to exceed his income and at the date of the receiving order last year he owed £22,000 Another remarkable case, details of which are given in the report, relates to an old Eton boy who inherited £7,000 a year, and whose average expenditure was £25,000 per annum. He had no occupation, but studied for the Army between 1898 and 1901. In 1901 he gave up the idea of entering the Army and devoted /himself to keeping

racehorses and to hunting and coursing. Upon leaving Eton, in 1898, he was in debt to the extent of £3OOO, and when he attained his majority in 1899, his debts amounted to £35,000. These were settled by payments amounting to £26,000. “ The cause of his failure,” the report states, “is entirely due to excessive expenditure brought about by extravagant living, financing impecunious friends, extortionate rates of interest on loans, and to keeping and running racehorses and by betting.” In a third case the debtor ou attaining the age of twenty-five years, which tpok place shortly prior to his bankruptcy, became entitled to property estimated at £447,000, on which at the date of the receiving order he had created charges exceeding £430,000. “It is not expected that there will be anything for the unsecured creditors, 'whose claims amount to upwards of £21,000.”