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Correspondence from Louis Wilkinson to Karl Germer
17 St. Leonard's Terrace S.W.3. Sloane 5811
12th January, 1948.
Dear Mr. Germer,
I have given your three letters careful consideration and will come on to the points raised in the letter in this letter. First I want to tell you about the interview which I had this morning with the Official Receiver. I made a verbatim copy at the time of what he said in regard to your claim, and it is as follows: "We are ready to entertain any evidence that the money left by Mr. Crowley was not his personal property but was money belonging to his Order and sent to him for the purpose of administration on behalf of the Order. The burden of proof, in such cases, rests on the person or persons making the claim. It is assumed that any property of which the deceased died possessed is his personal property unless a clearly proved claim is made out to the contrary. It is, therefore, for Mr. Germer to establish his case. It must be shown that the money in question was provided by the Order for A.C. to spend it on behalf of the Order."
It seems to me that it is only a lawyer who can deal satisfactorily with the matter, and I think you will agree as I note that you have already seen yours and that you would have asked him to write to the Official Receiver if you had known how this should be done. The address is The Official Receiver, Bankruptcy Buildings, Carey Street, London, W.C.2. Sometimes American lawyers have contacts with London firms who act for them when necessary. If this is the case with your lawyer, it might save time and trouble. I copied what you said about your claim and substantiation of it and gave it to the Official Receiver to read. [Handwritten note: "He has kept it"] He had, of course, already had my letter on the same subject of which I sent you a carbon copy. But evidently he is not satisfied and wants further evidence. Evidence, I take it, that the money, or at any rate the greater part of the money, was not for A.C.'s personal use but was sent to him for a specific purpose on behalf of an organization. Being quite ignorant of legal technicalities, I do not know at all how the case should be presented. To the layman your case seems clear enough from what you have already said. But your lawyer will no doubt be able to advise you as to the most effective way to put the case from the strictly legal point of view. [Handwritten note: "(Show that not a ____. O.R. says as yet, no evidence to satisfy him that I cannot be ______ __ a personal ____.)"]
Good news is that the Official Receiver definitely informed me that he makes no claim on the goods stored at Whiteley's, as he would not be justified in paying storage charges of nearly £50. So we can get those goods out at any time. All that is necessary is for Whiteley's to telephone the Official Receiver who will then O.K. this matter. The goods will then be sent to Mr. John Symonds, my literary co-executor who has in his possession all the books and papers of A.C.'s that were at Hastings. He is making out a list of them and this will be sent to you as soon as it is ready. You will appreciate that it is rather a lengthy business as so much has to be sorted. There are papers of no importance—bills, receipts, etc.—and everything has to be looked over. Also, Mr. Symonds has begun writing a Life of A.C. and the publishers had requested him to send them the first chapter as soon as possible so that they might decide if they would definitely commission the book, so he has not had much free time, especially as he has regular occupation during office hours. The things at Whiteley's will of course have to be listed too.
Another favourable piece of news is that the Official Receiver is not, he told me, interested in any possessions such as the seal ring, stele, etc. It is the money that he is concerned with primarily. As to the books and papers, you will remember that I expressed, in my letter to him, the opinion that most of these were the property of the Order as the production of A.C.'s literary work was paid for on behalf of the Order. He has not accepted this view, so far, any more than he has accepted the view that the money was not A.C.'s personal property; and he suggested that you should make him an offer for the books and papers now at Mr. Symonds' house. As he was unwilling to pay Whiteley's storage charges for the goods which are there, I shouldn't think that any offer that you might make need be a high one. There are, I judge, more books and papers at Whiteley's—considerably more—than there are at Mr. Symonds' house. I said that of course you could make no offer till you had a list of the books and papers. In any case you would not be making it, I assume until a later stage which would arise in the event of the Official Receiver insisting on claiming and carrying out possession if you did not make it. He specifically told me that he had no intention of taking possession of anything at present, that everything could stay where it was until matters were cleared up. But apparently, from what he said, he is legally entitled to take immediate possession, which Mr. Symonds could not legally resist, of all the things of A.C.'s that are now in Mr. Symonds' charge: also the Hastings Bank would have to hand over the money there to him on his application. I must say that he struck me as a reasonable sort of man, not wanting to make things any more difficult than, in his official position, he had to. The whole thing, of course, from his point of view, is merely a matter of the routine of his job. Anyhow he has relinquished claim on possessions apart from among the books and papers from which those at Whiteley's are excluded. I have no doubt that the Hastings Bank would hand over the money to him on his mere application, as he is a Government Official, under the department of the Board of Trade. That would be enough for them. According to the Official Receiver, A.C.'s Will has no validity, as he was an undischarged bankrupt; and I have information from other sources that this is so.
I suggest that we should use the sum of about £50 (from the money which you write that you are sending about 31st January) for payment of the storage charges and transfer of goods from Whiteley's to Mr. Symonds'. But Lady Harris [Frieda Harris] and I will pay this sum before the 31st—as soon as possible, in fact, for the less delay there is in getting these things and having them listed, the better. From what you send I further suggest that Lady Harris should be reimbursed for her payment of Watson's [Herbert Watson] account and the nurse's, and that part of the money should be earmarked for shipment charges to U.S.A.. As I am not so sure about Vernon Symonds' bill for, between ourselves, I think it somewhat excessive, and Mr. John Symonds (the two are not in any way related) agrees with me. We thought of asking him to submit a tradesman's estimate for redecoration of A.C.'s room instead of merely making a guess at it. It is rather a delicate situation for me, as I have known Vernon Symonds fairly well for some time; but I don't like to give in to what looks to me like an overcharge. All three executors should agree in such a case, and I hope you wouldn't mind if I told him that you wished for a closer examination of his claim? It amounts to about £50, and A.C. had paid for his board and lodging almost up to the date of his death. But this matter is not urgent; it can well wait, for Mr. V. Symonds is in no actual need of the money, as Watson and the nurse were. If your claim to the money now lodged in the Bank at Hastings is established—as certainly it ought to be, at any rate in "equity,"—then of course you would be reimbursed from it for any expenditure made from what you are sending on the 31st. But I should be disinclined to pay any bills from what you are sending except possibly the £100 (roughly £100) which is owing to the Hastings printers. And I am doubtful about this, for I don't know what the Official Receiver would be likely to do in the case of the printers. This matter was not mentioned. Perhaps we had better wait and see—but if you wish the printer to be paid I will of course do so from the money that you send. I needn't say that I would send you a detailed account of all expenditures made form it. I shall be glad to have it on hand in case there arises some immediate necessity for payment in the interests of A.C.'s work and of the order. But I feel that, in view of my interview with the Official Received, we need not apprehend any seizing of books and papers and their consequent loss. Still, it is as well to be prepared for any contingency.
I note your generous offer, in the interest of A.C.'s good name, to pay a percentage of their claims to the old creditors. But it seems to me that this offer had better not be disclosed to the Official Receiver until things have reached a later stage. I did sound him on the possibility, and he replied that, if your claim were not established, he would expect to pay the old creditors about one shilling and sixpence or maybe slightly less, in the pound. I also learnt that the amount owing is not £3000 but about £4500. It seemed advisable, at this present stage, not to be definite on the subject of your offer. If your claim is established, then it would certainly be an admirable gesture on your part to offer the old creditors 5% (i.e. a shilling in the pound), and, if it is not established, then the proposal might possibly be made from you that you should pay the creditors the percentage that they would eventually get in consideration of becoming yourself possessed of the money in the Bank and all books, papers, etc. This would save all the trouble and expense of formal legal transactions, which, as regards expense, would be considerable, judging from the fact that £450 should pay two shillings in the pound on debts of £4500. But I should expect that so commonsense and economical a method of arranging things would not be, from the legal or Government point of view, "in order." However, I really don't know, and, again, this is not an immediate matter. I hope you will think that, under the circumstances, I acted rightly in not transmitting your offer to the Official Receiver. I had very strongly the feeling that it would be premature. "If Mr. Germer should make an offer of, say, 5% to the creditors—I don't know that he would—what would be your attitude?" was more or less what I said. And indeed, I do not "know that you would," supposing that things turn out in one given way or another.
By the way, the total sum now available for the old creditors would not be so much as £460 as the funeral expenses have precedence over all others and must be paid in full. I gathered from the Official Receiver that this applies to no other debts. Funeral expenses are about £60. I have all the accounts of debts and will make a list of them and send to you. They amount to certainly the greater part of £450. I have been unusually busy lately with various matters or I would have computed the exact total before this. Bills kept coming in from week to week, but I should think the last must be in now.
I will send you the newspaper cuttings about A.C. as soon as I have them, and, to save trouble of reference to my former letter, my daughter's address is 215 Fairbanks Road, Dedham, Mass., to whom I should be much obliged if you would send on the cuttings or a carbon copy of them, if you have them typed and would prefer to keep the cuttings yourself.
I have had to confine myself to more or less immediate points, but will write again as soon as I can with regard to others. Liber Aleph and Golden Twigs are the only books in printing. "Forth, Beast!" went into a second edition and I think Faber & Faber, 24 Russell Square, London, W.C.2. would send you any required at 8/8 a copy. Certainly there will be no unnecessary delay over shipment to U.S.A. but the Board of Trade is so closely connected with the Official Receiver that I do feel strongly that it would be inadvisable to ship until matters are cleared up and no risks taken. I completed the Condensed Commentary on the Book of the Law, and A.C. despatched it some time since—about two years, I think?
Yours sincerely
Louis Wilkinson
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