Re Witta Coola Pastoral Co Pty Ltd

[1999] NSWSC 148

CITATION:	Re Witta Coola Pastoral Co Pty Ltd [1999] NSWSC 148
CURRENT JURISDICTION:	Equity
FILE NUMBER(S):	1500/99
HEARING DATE(S):	24 February 1999
JUDGMENT DATE:	24 February 1999
PARTIES :	Witta Coola Pastoral Co Pty Limited (Plaintiff)
JUDGMENT OF:	Young J

COUNSEL :	Plaintiff: R K Eassie
SOLICITORS:	Plaintiff: Owen Hodge
CATCHWORDS:	Corporations [180]; Voluntary administration; Time for creditors' meeting; Extension; When granted
ACTS CITED:	Corporations Law s 439A(6)
DECISION:	Make order 3 in the summons

THE SUPREME COURT
OF NEW SOUTH WALES
EQUITY DIVISION

YOUNG, J

WEDNESDAY 24 FEBRUARY 1999

1500/99 - RE WITTA COOLA PASTORAL CO PTY LTD

JUDGMENT
1 HIS HONOUR : This is an application by an administrator to extend the period under s 439A(6) of the Corporations Law for a further three weeks to allow the administrator to hold a second meeting of creditors.
2 I declined to make this order this morning when the summons was filed as it appeared to me that the material then before the court showed that the administrator's staff had merely been too pleasant in dealing with the procrastinations of the directors and the company's accountants.
3 The operation carried on by the company appears to be the management of a farm involving a piggery near Gunnedah where there are ten employees. It is said to be a “complex commercial operation” but it hardly seems to me to be so in the sense that that term is usually used in these cases.
4 Too many applications are being made under this section to extend the time. Some are obviously justified and the court grants them without ado.
5 However, the number of borderline applications are increasing. That should not prejudice this particular application, but it makes me again draw attention to the fact that the legislature has deliberately set a very short time during which these meetings are to be convened.
6 Everyone involved in liquidations and administration must realise the time is very short when convening meetings in administration and, accordingly, the normal pace of work just cannot be observed when an administrator is dealing with these matters. The administrator must undertake an accelerated programme and instruct his or her staff accordingly.
7 Indeed, it would seem from some of these applications, not necessarily this one, that administrators are accepting employment with inadequate material, as a result of which they need to spend time assembling the basic material in the period that the legislature has laid down for convening the second meeting.
8 It must always be remembered that the time limits are set under the legislation to balance the interests of creditors affected as well as the interests of the company.
9 I have already, in Mann v Abruzzi Sports Club Ltd (1994) 12 ACSR 611, set down the parameters as to when this sort of application is granted. I agree with Mr Robson's comments in his annotation to s 439A, based on Re Evening Standard Publishing Co 164 F 517 (1908) (DCNY) that the guiding principle is that there should be an expeditious administration, and unnecessary adjournments are discouraged and dilatory delays are refused.
10 However, the present application I think just gets over the mark. It has been helped to get over the mark by the fact the four major creditors have consented.
11 Accordingly, I make order 3 in the summons filed this morning.

oOo

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