Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1960-1961 — Page 32

Trustee, and a dividend of 50% on account of the preferential claims of 568 employees of the garment factory mentioned above.

Public Examinations and Court Work

91. Public Examinations were held in eleven cases. Altogether, the legal officers of the Department appeared in Court and in Chambers on 65 occasions in connexion with bankruptcies and liquidation.

Previous Cases still Outstanding

92. Forty six outstanding bankruptcies were carried over from previous years, but in eighteen of these a final dividend has already been paid, and only formal closure proceedings are required. There were fifteen compulsory liquidations outstanding from previous years, three of which were merely awaiting formal conclusion. Some of the cases awaiting formal closure have been awaiting closure for several years. It has, however, been necessary to give priority to the more important work on current cases.

Failures during 1959-60

93. Table XXII shows the estimated assets and liabilities in the seven bankruptcies and three compulsory liquidations in the year classified according to trades and occupations. These estimates are normally based on information given by the Debtors and are seldom reliable indications of the true position.

Official Receiver in Bankruptcy Account

94. The receipts and payments for the year and the assets and liabilities as at 31st March, 1961 are set out in Table XXIII. Assets of bankrupt estates produced $1,447,293, which is the highest total realized in one year since the war. The total includes $107,140 realized for land which was found to be held in trust for two partners of a Bank which went bankrupt in 1933. Dividends paid to preferential creditors and unsecured creditors amounted to $106,696 and $731,924 respectively, making a total of $838,620, and unclaimed funds and dividends amounting to $5,867 were transferred to the Bankruptcy Estates Account.

Companies Liquidation Account

95. The receipts and payments for the year and the assets and liabilities as at 31st March, 1961 are set out in Table XXIV. $43,873 was realized from assets of companies in compulsory liquidation and $1,108,919 was received from flat purchasers in Peony House West

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