Fees

65. The fees collected during the year amounted to the new record total of $218,373, $24,000 more than in 1958/59. Particulars are given in Table XX.

New Cases

PART VIII

OFFICIAL RECEIVER IN BANKRUPTCY AND COMPANIES WINDING UP

66. Eleven bankruptcy petitions were presented during the year as compared with sixteen in 1958/59. One of the eleven petitions was withdrawn, one refused by the Court, and one was pending at the end of the year. Receiving Orders were made in the other eight cases and in one in respect of which the petition was presented the previous year. In seven cases the Receiving Orders were followed by Adjudication Orders. The Official Receiver was appointed Trustee in six of these cases. In the seventh case an outside Trustee was appointed, the first such appointment for many years. One of the two cases in which an Adjudica- tion Order had not followed on the Receiving Order by the end of the year related to a garment making firm operating eleven factories and employing over 2,300 workers, including some 740 out-workers. Since the firm had a great deal of work on hand, and there seemed some prospect of a scheme of arrangement being approved, a Special Manager was appointed to keep the factories going in the interim. The difficulties of the Official Receiver's Office in this case were greatly increased by the fact that at the outset the owner of the factory could not be contacted.

67. Orders were made by the Court for the winding up of three companies. The Official Receiver became Liquidator in two cases; in the third a Liquidator had still to be appointed at the end of the year. One petition for the winding up of a company was pending at the end of the year. This related to a company which operates a number of schools with over 10,000 pupils. The Petition was on the ground that owing to the situation which had developed with respect to the management of the company, it was just and equitable that it be wound up. There was no suggestion that the company was insolvent. The Official Receiver was appointed Provisional Liquidator with directions inter alia to take charge of all receipts of moneys and make all payments in respect of the schools. As this was a commitment quite beyond the powers of the Official Receiver's small staff heavily engaged as it was on other cases,

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