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Correspondence from Louis Wilkinson to Karl Germer
17 St. Leonard's Terrace, London, S.W.3.
29th August, 1948.
Dear Mr. Germer,
Thank you for your letters of August 8 and 25, the former containing the Official Receiver's letter, copy of your letter to Yorke [Gerald Yorke], and sample paper. When I wrote to you on August 18th asking for the O.[fficial] R.[eceiver]'s letter I had not received yours of 8th August which was a letter by ordinary mail. I have written to the O.R. telling him that you regard the assumptions in his letter as correct, reserving of course the right to reject unreasonable claims. I also asked him to return to me receipts of yours from the New York Bank which I sent to him when he was asking for further evidence as to payments to A.C.
The Hastings lawyers are now worrying about the matter of Probate. I have written to them that the expense of this seems to me unnecessary and that I do not in any case see how a Will which, according to the O.R., had no legal validity, can be brought to Probate. This is a question that I have raised with them before but they have not attended to it. The expense of the Probate would be, they inform me, £15.15.0 plus small Court fees. The only advantage of Probate, as far as I can see (the lawyers have not answered my question as to what the advantages are) is that a War Credit Certificate for just over £10, payable to A.C., may not be cashable without it. But this £10 would cover only about half of the Probate expenses. I will of course not consent to Probate without your authority for incurring the expense. I will let you know any further developments and get your opinion on them before taking any action.
The only other debt I have paid from the funds in the Hastings Bank is that of £15 to Gerald Yorke for the half of his recent shipment to you. This expense I regarded as authorized by you; and he tells me, in his letter acknowledging the £15, that there will be one more payment due to him for a future shipment. The present balance at the Hastings Bank is £227.1.2 To the payments specified in my letter of 28th July—i.e. £209.16.7.—add £17.16.3. for payments to Whiteley's and to Gerald Yorke (£2.16.3 plus £15).
I am enclosing Whiteley's receipt, and have asked the Bank to send me cancelled cheques which I will send on to you in cases where I have not the receipt. Gerald Yorke acknowledges, but does not send formal receipts. However, the cancelled cheques serve the same purpose. It would be a satisfaction to me if you would check all accounts; as I am not really a business man. And this is why I feel sure that John Symonds will handle the matter of the printer much better than I can. I hope that all will go well in this matter, and that there will be no serious complications. I would say in this connection that I am afraid we can anticipate very few sales in England from A.C.'s books. John S. bears me out in this from his own experience of trying to sell Olla.
I take it that the situation now is that you do not wish for any further payments to be made from the Hastings funds until the matter of the printer's expenses is cleared up; and I will pay nothing further, with the exception of what may be due to Gerald Yorke for further shipment. If printers' expenses are heavy, then perhaps the outstanding debts might be still further scaled down. I should be glad to know what you think about this. Neither Lady Harris [Frieda Harris] nor myself wish to ask for any reimbursement for expenses incurred as Executors; but it does occur to me that A.C. had intended to reimburse me for a hundred crown Danish note for which I gave him slightly over £5. I found that I could not cash it because Danish currency restrictions forbid such notes being taken out of Denmark, so I have the note still, and would of course send it to you if you can do anything with it. I have tried various ways of cashing it here, and even wrote to Copenhagen about it, receiving a reply that its existence in England was contrary to their regulations and that nothing could be done!
I am sorry that there is this difficulty about A.A.'s [Aleister Ataturk] school fees. When I write to Mrs. MacAlpine [Patricia MacAlpine] I will merely say that I hear from you that there is difficulty and that you are writing to her. I hope very much that your various worries may soon be dispersed.
As to the £15 due to the man in Hastings, I am not quite clear about this; but I have itemized all payments. Perhaps this was paid before the O.R. Relinquished the Hastings money, as there is no £15 item (except Gerald Yorke's) in recent accounts. However, I see that you add that it seems that this amount was paid. I am also enclosing (if not overweight) A.C.'s contract with me and a receipt which I had mislaid (£7.5.), paid with my cheque through Lady Harris. The Hastings lawyers have not yet sent in a bill.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Louis Wilkinson
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