was paid before sufficient assets were realized to cover it. Needless to say, the sums borrowed from the Government will have to be repaid before any further dividend can be paid to the creditors.
113. The strain that this liquidation has imposed upon the Depart- ment may be gauged from the fact that the Official Receiver's Office has had to be reinforced by the transfer of two legal officers and six Assistant Registrars from duties in other branches of the Department, and by the secondment of one Crown Counsel from the Legal Depart- ment to take charge of a new unit created to investigate certain aspects of the case.
114. Meetings of the Committee of Inspection took place about once every three weeks, and the Official Receiver is greatly indebted to the members of the Committee for their valuable advice and assistance in dealing with the many extremely complex matters arising in the liquidation.
The Ming Tak Bank
115. This bankruptcy, which was brought forward from 1964-65, was reported last year as probably the largest bankruptcy that had ever occurred in the Colony. In this case also the Government provided financial assistance in the shape of loans to the Official Receiver as Trustee totalling $8,200,000 as at 31st March 1966 for the purpose of paying off mortgages and completing buildings that had been in the course of construction by the proprietor of the Bank. One of the properties consists of a hotel and restaurant in the New Territories, and the Official Receiver has continued to run this business in order to preserve it as a saleable asset. Because of the stagnant condition of the property market in the Colony it is now estimated that it will take at least two or three years to complete and sell the various buildings, and there is therefore little prospect of a dividend being declared in the near future. The Committee of Inspection met regularly during the year, however, and performed valuable services in dealing with a variety of problems connected with the maintenance of existing buildings and the completion of partially constructed buildings.
Grand Hotel Limited
116. On the hearing of the petition for winding-up on 19th February 1966, the Official Receiver was appointed Interim Provisional Liquida- tor to investigate the affairs of the company and report to the Court
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