were made, one of which included an order to administer the estate of a deceased partner, four petitions were withdrawn and one was dismissed, leaving six petitions pending at 31st March 1973. One of the 19 Receiving Orders was subsequently rescinded. Adjudication Orders were made in the four 1971-72 cases and in 11 of the 1972-73 cases. The Official Receiver was appointed Trustee in all these cases. Since 1959 there have only been two cases in which the Official Receiver was not appointed Trustee.
126. There were 57 petitions for the compulsory winding-up of companies, 12 more than in 1971-72. To these 57 there fell to be added 13 pending from 1971-72 making in all 70 petitions before the Court. Five were withdrawn, five were dismissed, two were struck out, four were adjourned sine die, one was stood over until further order and five cases were pending at 31st March 1973. Winding-up Orders were made in 48 cases (the highest number since 1951-52) including two orders against unregistered companies under Part X of the Com- panies Ordinance, the first such orders since the war. The Official Receiver was appointed Liquidator in 47 cases, and in the other was appointed Provisional Liquidator pending an adjourned first meeting of creditors.
127. Table XXIV shows the estimated assets and liabilities in the 19 bankruptcies and 48 compulsory liquidations in respect of which orders were made during the year, classified according to trades and occupations. The estimated liabilities totalled $21.73m. and the estimated assets $6.27m. These estimates, however, are based on information given by the debtors and are seldom reliable indications of the true position.
Comparison with Previous Years
128. Table XXV sets out for the purpose of comparison the numbers of bankruptcies and compulsory liquidations in the years from 1963-64 to 1972-73 together with the aggregate amounts of the estimated liabilities and assets. This shows that 1972-73 had the highest number of cases since 1963-64. The number of cases was in fact the highest since the war.
Dividends Paid
129. Payments to preferential creditors and dividends to unsecured creditors were paid in 11 bankruptcies and 14 windings-up.
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