What do you say ig the cause of your insolvency?—The deliberate breaking of contracts by purchasers, absconding purchasers, and consequent charges which I lave had to carry, the chaos in Ohina, the occupation: of the Ruhr, all combining to cause continuous depression.
Witness foresaw in June, 1920, that the firm would be unable to pay its debts, but did not actually reach the point where he they could not pay until larch or April, 1921.
Why did you carry on then?—I was instructed to carry on by my principal creditors.
By all of them?—Yes.
Who were they?—The Hongkong & Shanghai Bank were by far the largest creditors. Then there were Messrs. Hobson & Ca., of Manchester, the International Banking Corporation, Messrs. Hill & Buechner, of New York, the Banque de I'Indo-Chine, and the Banque Industrielle de China, Witness went on to say that he had drawn Tls. 750 per month from the firm as salary. He drew a few thousand taely on going away in 1919. and on his return kept expenditure down very rigidly. He had made a full disclosure of all assets, complete except perhaps for a few small articles.
Questioned with regard to his motor cars, witness explained that he had nob been able to afford to run the big machine since 1921, and this year also he found himself unable to run even his town car. Accordingly, he borrowed the money from hi father to purchase a small car, and this car therefore went into' the estate. For the last five months he had been trying to sell the other two cars, without success.
In answer to his Lordship, witness said that the Chinese defaulters bought goods and lost
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.