§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that Mr. Lawrence Wilfred Carder, the late managing director of the Irish Industrial Minerals Company, when shutting down the works at Achill, represented to the Westport Harbour Commissioners that the reason he was doing so was because of the delay in completing the pier extension and carrying out certain dredging operations; whether this question was ever brought before the board of directors or under the notice of the liquidator; whether the liquidator was aware that Carder was an undischarged bankrupt when he accepted the offer of the Gweedore Quarry Company, promoted and controlled by Carder, to purchase the interest of the Irish Industrial Minerals Company; whether an investigation will be ordered into Carder's connection with these companies before the present transaction is completed in order that the position of the other directors and shareholders in the Irish Industrial Minerals Company may be protected; and can he state the present position of this matter in liquidation?
Mr. BUXTONA receiver of the property of Irish Industrial Minerals, Limited, was appointed by a debenture holder on the 11th April, 1912, and the company is 57W being wound up voluntarily under a resolution passed on the 16th December, 1912. The Board of Trade have no power to investigate the affairs of a company which is in voluntary liquidation, and have no control over the conduct of a voluntary liquidator or the administration of a receiver for debenture-holders, and I am therefore unable to furnish information as to any representations made by the managing director of the company to the Westport Harbour Commissioners, or as to the knowledge of the directors or the liquidator of the facts stated in the question. The receiver has filed an abstract of his receipts and payments from the 11th April, 1912, to the 10th April, 1913, which is open to inspection at the office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies.
§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that in the prospectus originally issued by Lawrence Wilfrid Carder, an undischarged bankrupt, asking the public to subscribe £30,000 for the purposes of the Irish Industrial Minerals Company, he described himself as a merchant of Westport, county Mayo; whether, as a matter of fact, Carder did not reside in Westport at the time, was never a merchant there, and had no fixed place of abode in the United Kingdom; whether the antecedents of this man will be inquired into before the liquidator finally ratifies the offer now made by him in the name of the Gweedore Quarry Company for the purchase of the assets of the Irish Industrial Minerals Company for £5,500; and whether an effort will be made by the liquidator to find a bonâ-fide purchaser for this property?
Mr. BUXTONIn a prospectus on the file of Irish Industrial Minerals, Limited, offering 22,500 shares of £1 each for subscription, the description and address of L. W. Carder were as stated in the hon. Member's question, but I have no information as to whether the statements were accurate. The company is being wound up voluntarily, and the Board of Trade have no control over any sale of the assets by the liquidator or by the receiver for debenture holders.