Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 11 September 1952, page 5


CAR FIRM'S

CLAIM

A Request To

Creditors

MELBOURNE, Wednes-day.-The Hartnett Motor Co. Ltd., which was formed with the recommendation of the Commonwealth Govern-ment in 1949 to produce a low - priced Australian people's car, next month will ask its Australian credi-tors to defer payment of accounts until it has com-pleted an arbitration in which it claims more than £140,000 from the Com-monwealth Engineering Co.

Ltd.

In the Practice Court to-day, Mr. Justice Coppel gave the Hartnett company permis-sion to take this step. If a three-fourths majority of creditors approves of the pro-posed arrangements, the Court will be asked to enforce it.

In an affidavit submitted by Mr. K. A. Aitken, instructed by Oswald Burt and Co., the company claimed that the Commonwealth Engineering Co. had failed to comply with a contract to supply all motor body and chassis panels for the Hartnett car.

All other suppliers had de-livered the necessary parts for 300 cars, the affidavit said.

341 ORDERS

The company's sole source of income was the sale of supplies from which distribu-tors could assemble complete

cars.

Distributors had orders and deposits for 341 cars. .The company's liabilities on Aug-ust 8 were £63,779.

About 54 per cent of the shares in Commonwealth En-gineering Co. Ltd. are held by the Commonwealth Govern-ment. Three of the five direc-tors are Government-appoin-ted.