COLOSSAL DEBT

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20733, 17 February 1939, Page 2

COLOSSAL DEBT

BANKRUPT SOLICITOR I ONLY SMALL ASSETS I (From a Correspondent) LONDON, Jan. 4 j ‘‘Colossal, overpowering liabilities” J were revealed at the public examination at Bridgewater Bankruptcy Court : of Joseph Rowland Bradley, a solicitor, j of Nithsdale Road, Weston-Super- j Mare. The Official Receiver said the in- j vestigation would •be very long, but 1 the statement of affairs was lodged a few days ago and showed gross liabilities exceeding £130,000. Bradley, giving evidence, said he was admitted a solicitor in 1903. He practised at Liverpool, later going into partnership with a Mr Arthur G. B. Fox. The partnership continued until 1914, when there was a deed of dissolution. There was an agreement between them that he should pay Fox £B4O in satisfaction of £950 due to Fox. Asked what the £950 was for, Bradley said it was for various things. “Was it horse racing?” asked the Official Receiver. “Were you not a heavy gambler on horse-racing?” “Not particularly,” Bradley replied. He said that of the £950 about £2OO j, represented money required to discharge gambling debts. With regard to the firm of Baker !. and Company, of Weston-Super-Mare, of which Bradley was a partner, the : Official Receiver pointed nut that at ~ one time there was only 2£ per cent. Icash cover on the firm’s liabilities to!' clients. 1 The account for the year 1937 showed £92,000 owing to clients and j 1 £3387 in the clients’ account, a cover A of 3 4 per cent. Included in his personal unsecured j liabilities of £37,879, Bradley said, was h a figure of £27.908, which he agreed \'. was due to Baker and Company chiefly j: for advances. The advances turned!! out worse than they would have done i. if the closure had not been put on so i quickly. <

A Serious Offence The Official Receiver: It is in your mind, is it not, that speculations by a solicitor in practice may be a serious offence ?—Yes. Bradley agreed that the contingent creditors were retained at £50,165. less assets of £14.167. showing a net figure of £4 2,000. The Official Receiver: Against these colossal, overpowering liabilities of yours, your assets are cash in the Post office Savings Bank £1 17s sd, and ring £1 lfis. These are the only tangible assets. You have also a registration of a City Guarantee Company, £25, and an estimated surplus from unsecured creditors of £931 Is 3d. Bradley handed the Official Receiver a bank pass book in the name of J. Jackson. He said he produced it because he thought auestions would be asked about it. The Official Receiver: Who •is J. Jackson? I press for an answer. Bradley: I do not know. I only suspect, from what I have obtained as a solicitor, and I claim privilege. Bradley added that he had referred to J. Jackson in an earlier statement as a fictitious person, but what he meant was that he did not know him The examination was adjourned.