Messrs. John Cave & Sons Limited

Statement of Affairs - Deficiency £62,904 – A Gloomy Outlook

A meeting of the creditors of Messrs. John Cave and Sons Ltd., boot manufacturers, of Rushden, is called for this (Friday) afternoon at the Cannon-street Terminus Hotel, London.

Mr. W. B. Keen, the liquidator, has issued a

Statement of Affairs

with observations upon the figures. The debts and liabilities of the Company are put down at £72,498. 7.- gross and £37,812. 9.- net.

The available assets, estimated at £6,952.10.6 only, leave a deficiency of assets to meet the liability of the company (subject to the cost of liquidation) of £30,859.19.1.

There is owing to unsecured creditors £28,827.19.10, and to a creditor fully secured (the Bank) £20,085. 8.6, whose estimated value of securities is put down at the same sum. The creditors partly secured claim £18,079. 9.9, and hold securities valued at £9,095.

The Assets

Include stock-in-trade valued at £13,183 and £9,000 book debts, and there is a surplus from the Commonwealth Boot Factory in South Africa (including assets at Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pietermaritzburg) of £16,970.1.3. From these total assets amounting to £45,079. 2.9, there is to be deducted £38,126. 2.3. due on debentures to preferential creditors.

These figures are summarised in the following statement

Liabilities	£	s	d
Unsecured creditors	28,827	19	10
Creditors partly secured	8,984	9	9
	£37,812	9	7
Assets
Cash	26	1	6
Stock-in-trade	13,183	0	0
Fixtures etc.	2,500	0	0
Investments	3,150	0	0
A building, gasometers and trade patterns	250	0	0
Book debts (estimated to produce)	9,000	0	0
Surplus from South Africa	16,970	1	3
	£45,079	2	9
Due on debentures etc.	38,126	12	3
Net assets	6,952	10	6
Defficiency	30,859	19	1
	£37,812	9	7

To the deficiency mentioned above of £30,859 has to be added £32,045 representing 6,409 fully paid shares of £5 each, making £62,904.19s.1d. which is

The Total Deficiency

so far as the shareholders are concerned. This deficiency is made up in an account in which the following are the chief items:

	£	s	d
Loss in 1905	16,076	9	9
Loss in Rushden in 1906	2,355	15	11
Deficiency in South African branches	5,306	5	2
Estimated loss on realisation of the stock at Rushden & South Africa	15,979	19	1
Estimated loss on realisation of the plant at Rushden & South Africa	3,396	4	11
Estimated loss on book debts at Rushden & South Africa	4,237	15	7
Estimated loss on land, fixed machinery etc. at Rushden	7,197	16	3
Estimated loss miscellaneous	1,031	8	0
Goodwill, written off	10,000	0	0

Liquidator’s Observations

In his observations on the statement of affairs, Mr. Keen says the assets at the time of the purchase, February 7, 1898, were put down at £117,287. 0s. 7d. This included £20,000 for goodwill, £10,000 for patent rights and trade marks, £63,000 for stocks in trade. The total number of shares taken up is 6,409 of £5 each.

No dividends appear to have been paid since the formation of the company.

The actual loss to the company by the fire in 1901 appears to have been £2,865.15s.11d.

The firm commenced business in South Africa in 1889, carrying on trade in the name of the Commonwealth Boot Company. The company’s home bankers hold a mortgage on the whole of the land, buildings, fixed machinery, plant and gas and electric lighting plant at Rushden and Stanwick. The company originally carried on the business of the

Standard Rotary Machine Co.

as part of their own business, but in 1902 an extraordinary general meeting was held, when it was resolved that the patents and assets now belonging to that company, in addition to the Standard Rotary machines and accessories, should be sold to the Standard Rotary Machine Company Ltd., for £23,000, to be satisfied as to £3,000 in cash and the balance in fully-paid shares of the Satndard Rotary Company Ltd. According to the balance sheet at Dec 31, 1905, 17,093 shares were still held by this company; since that date, in order to assist the finances of the company, 5,000 shares have been pourchased by Messrs Paul, Frederick, Amos and Arthur Cave for the sum of £5,000. The remaining 12,095 shares are at present registered in the name of the company, but the certificates are deposited with creditors as security. The validity of the charges will be inquired into in due course.

The company carried on its

Business in South Africa

under the name of the Commonwealth Boot Company, and local creditors claimed a right to payment of the claims out of the local assets before proceeds were remitted to this country. The Court, acting on the evidence of local lawyers of the highest repute, supported as it was also by the advice of counsel in England, has sanctioned the claims so made being thus dealt with. Accordingly, in the statement of affairs the gross assets and the amount expected to be realised are shown, and the South African liabilities deducted from that amount, leaving the estimate net amount likely to be received from the realisation of the company’s assets in South Africa.

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