3
went on and it was still impossible to sell
the ship, the Company found itself short of
money and they used funds realised by the sale
of other property under order of the Court
for the purpose of maintaining the "Ling Nam" Owing to the slackness of the accounting
methods in the Registry, it seems to have been easy for them to hold back this money, which
should, of course, have been paid over to the
Court and ultimately to the creditors concerned.
There seems also to have been some fraudulent
manipulation of cheques which deceived the
of the
higher officials de tihke
the Regist
Registraf.
This could not last, however; creditors
began to press for the money thus withheld and
it eventually became necessary for the Gover-
ment to advance over $27,000 to pay them. This
was, of course, theoretically recoverable from
the Company but when finally in March 1927
the "Ling Nam" was sold, valu had so
slumped that there was not enough left in the
final settlement of accounts to cover the whole
of this advance. The net result is that the
Government is having to write off the sum of $7,818,97, part of the advance referred to
nominally due from the Company which is,
however, hopelessly insolvent.
The responsibility for this appears
to rest principally on the Registrar, Mr.
Nisbet, the Deputy Registrar Mr elbourne,
the First Bailiff Mr. Hill, and the Shroff.
They have been or will be dealt with as
follows:-
Mr. Nisbet, Registrar, will be 55
in