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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1040.PDF
COMPANY MATTERS. Re the Wells Aviation Co., Ltd. (in Liquidation). ON Tuesday, the 25th ult., a meeting of some of the credi- tors was held in the above matter at the Cannon Street Hotel, such meeting having been called by Mr. H. M. Marriott, solicitor for Mr. Wells, who was supported by Mr. Gaff, of Messrs. Gaff, Harper and Co. (chartered accountants). The Chairman (Mr. H. M. Marriott) outlined the reasons for calling this meeting, and, in the course of his speech com- plained that t"he liquidators had been guilty of misfeasance, and so, had not acted, in their capacity as liquidators, in the best interests of their creditors ; he also complained that the receiver and manager for the debenture holders has not acted in the best interests of the Debenture holder i.e., the Treasury). Briefly, the scheme outlined by the chairman was, that Mr. Wells and his associates, had tendered to the liquidators and the receiver for the purchase of the business, and had offered them for the creditors claims a payment down of 6s. 8d. in the £, and had promised to pay a remaining 13s. 4d. in a short time, during which the liquidators would hold a good security to be approved by them on behalf of the creditors. The chairman went into the matter, very fully, reading a good deal of correspondence, and finally asked the meeting to support him in passing a resolution to request the liquidators to get rid of the offer, which they had accepted from the Aircraft Trust Company, and Mr. S. J. Waring, whereunder the creditors would get approximately 10s. in the £ (a sum of ^15,000 has already been received by the liquidators and which was equivalent to 5s. in the £, and the balance becoming payable shortly would bring the return to the creditors up to approximately 10s. in the £, and which balance has been personally guaranteed by Mr. S. J. Waring). At the conclusion of the chairman's speech, Mr. George H. Mansfield (The Aircraft Supplies Co., Limited) asked the chairman, " Whether in view of the fact that he was unable to tell the meeting in what form the security for 13s. 4d. would take, he would explain to the meeting, why they should ask the liquidators to throw over the offer they had accepted, the £15,000 they had in their possession, and leave the creditors to negotiate with the scheme now before them." To this the Chairman replied that he had already stated that the 13s. 4d. would be put up on security, which should be approved by the liquidators on behalf of the creditors, and whereby the creditors should get 20s. in the £ instead of the 10s. now before them. A number of creditors rose in turn and requested details as to the nature of the security which had been offered, but each time the chairman was unable to give them any particulars, but informed then that he was not authorised to state whether the security would be in the form of a second debenture or what. Several creditors expressed their dissatisfaction at the inadequate reply of the chairman and also expressed their displeasure at having been called together to receive a proposal which, on the face of it, was not equal to the proposal which had been accepted by the liquidators on behalf of the creditors. Mr. Davies, the co-liquidator in the matter with Mr. A. G. Westacott, and who had been specifically referred to by the chay-man in his speech, rose, and explained the position to the creditors ; with regard to the chairman's accusation, Mr. Davies pointed out that he had been in business for twenty-five years, and, not having had such an accusation made against him before, and considering the facts of this case, he would dismiss the remarks without further comment, and leave the creditors to form their own opinion. After giving his explanation on the matter, Mr. Davies pointed out that Mr. Wells and his associates informed him on two or three occasions that they had proposals for the purchase of this business, and the payment of the creditors in full, but had not actually made any concrete proposal to the liqui- dators. In reference to the proposal [put up by the chair- man, Mr. Davies pointed out that in reply to their enquiry as to the length of the period in which the 13s. 4d. would be paid, and also their enquiry as to the nature of the security which was to be put up, they had received no reply. Mr. Davies pointed out that they had had certain negotiations with another party for the purchase of the creditors' claims, but in that instance also nothing had actually matured, while at the time when the last meeting of the committee of creditors was held, they put before them Mr. Waring's definite proposal, and it was unanimously decided by them that this should be accepted by the liqui- dators, which had been done, and in respect of which ^15,000 was standing in the bank in the joint names of Mr. Westacott d himself, while in addition to which, they held Mr. S. J. OCTOBER 4, 1917. Waring's written guarantee for the payment of the balance, i.e., ^15,000, and this guarantee Mr. Davies read to the meeting. After several of the creditors had spoken, and considerable- discussion had ensued between these speakers and the chair- man, it was proposed and seconded by two different creditors, that a vote of confidence in the liquidators be passed, but difficulty was experienced in getting the chairman to put this to the meeting, and in spite of the demands of creditors- to vote, the proposal was not put to the meeting at all ; the- chairman proposed an amendment approving the alternative scheme before the meeting. The chairman pointed out that he held several proxies, but a solicitor on behalf of some creditors protested against the use of these on the grounds that the people who had given the proxies, had given them merely on the strength of the circular received by them and signed by Mr. H. M. Marriott, and had not had an. opportunity of hearing the liquidator's case on the matter at all. The Chairman asked whether there was any creditor who would propose his amendment, and, although a creditor accepted the position of proposer and was eventually seconded by another creditor, the amendment was not put to the meeting, because, after further speeches from other creditors, including the chairman of the committee, and amidst calls to> vote upon the substantive proposal, the chairman still would not put the resolution of confidence in the liquidators to the meeting, the meeting under these conditions breaking up' without anything definite being put to the meeting. Although no vote was actually taken or any resolution was actually put to the meeting, the sense of the creditors present appeared? to be in favour of the first resolution proposed, viz., that a-.. vote of confidence in the liquidators be recorded. Mr. Davies had previously informed the meeting that it was hoped that, under the offer already accepted, a distribution of 5s. in the £ would be made to the creditors in the first week of October, in spite of there being as many as 640 claims. HEBE NEW COMPANIES REGISTERED. MANCHESTER AIRCRAFT CO, LTD., 29, Cooper Street, Manchester.—Capital ^5,000, in £1 shares. Manu- facturers, carriers, importers and exporters of aircraft, parts and accessories, &c. ROE GREEN GARDEN VILLAGE, LTD.—CapitaU £10,000, in £1 shares. Acquiring for development certain freehold land, formerly part of Grove Park Estate, Kings- bury, Middlesex. Under agreement with the Aircraft Manu- facturing Co., Ltd. First directors: G. H. Thomas, HL Burroughes and G. A. Peck. E E H H Aeronautical Patents Published. Applied for In 1916. The cumbers in brackets are those under which the specifications areprinted and abridged, &c. Published October 4th, 1917.10,994. W. M. SAVOURS. Temporary hangers. (109,279.) 13,850. A. H. BRUNESSAUX AND G. IREDALE. Apparatus for bomb dropping..(109,327.) 15,282. H. B. MOLESWORTH. Varying the speed of aeroplanes. (109,335.) 18,292. AERONAUTICAL INSTRUMENT CO. AND G. BREWER. Apparatus for recording differences in pressure between gas contents of aerostatand external atmosphere. (109,365.) If you require anything pertaining to aviation, study i "FLIGHT'S " Buyers' Guide and Trade Directory, I which appears in our advertisement pages each week I (see pages xlii, xliii and xliv). FLIGHT and The Aircraft Engineer. 44, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 2. Telegraphic address : Truditur, Westrand, London. Telephone: 1828 Gerrard. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. " FLIGHT " will be forwarded, post free, at the following rates ;— UNITED KINGDOM. . ABROAD. s. d. • s. d. 3 Months, Post Free.-. 5 o 71 6 „ ,, .. 10 o3 Months, Post Free.6 „ „ 3 10 ;7 12 15 2 I 12Cheques and Post Office Orders should be made payable to the Proprietors of "FLIGHT," 44, St. Martin's Lane, W.C. 2, and crossed London County and Westminster Bank, otherwise «o responsibility will be accepted. Should any difficulty be experienced in procuring " FLIGHT '* from local newsvendors, intending readers can obtain each issue direct from the Publishing Office, by forwarding remittance as. above. . '.. IO4O
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