The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-03-16 00:00:00

'HIE DAILY TIMF,S,_,FRIDAY, INIARCiI 16,

necesity for the eomPound orjud(g)tUiit a4d .tutcninis-
tration, or for five, comiiiiaspners, ;;etlch transacting
business in his own way, he therefore proposed to
sweep away the commissioners in bankruptcy altogethei
,--Ileaving them in full receipt of -their existing emolu-
ment, and requiring them still to be auxilariesin the
administratiOn of justice' whenever required. lie pro:-
posed, in their place, to appoint
.one ,judge, with the
same rank and emolument of the judges of the land—
confining his duties altogether to matters of judicial
cliaraCter and the adininstiative •funetionti, now' per-
formed,..by the commissioner, to ..be 'performed by
the Registrar in Bankruptcy. All meetings of Creditors,
private .e.xanainations, and dividend meetings,', would
be performed by registrars with the same, dot.ies and
poWers as masters and "chief clerks itt.theOrdinarY
courts, subject to appeal to the judge in chambers. At
'present Ithe'l lois 'to creditors was 'enormous, ihrbugh
their being compelled to 'come to London tit whatever
distance,they may reside. He proposed,,therefore, that
the registrars should be sent to the locality where the
'debtor resided to conduct the examination of the debts,
so as to meet the interests and wishes of the creditors.
He further Proposed that in the London districts there
should be an' auxiliary court for the •pnrpose bf 'dealing,
with small estates when the asseta'do not exceed £3OO.
About the London districts he felt satisfied ;, but had
great difficulties about the country 'districts„ lie should ,
be glad if he could have chine away with the district

courts of bankrtiptcY and substituted the county courts
but there 'were reasons- which rendered this impossible
at once. He, thereibre,-pkyosed that on the death of
auyslistrict commissioner, her Majesty might, by order
in council, be able to enter into new arrangements trans;
ferring the powers of banruptcy qdministratioip to the
of
comity 6ourt.' Tje pointed out the immense inconvenience

of the actual country system; 'which it would be d -

sirable to remove with as little delay as possible.
The bill further contained proviOone for private arrange:
ments which should have the same effect as prkiiiedingo
in bankruptcy. The administration of the estate would

without unnecessary publicity, bB ymted in trustees;
against' irhoni the'debter Might, when he pleased, resort
to proceedings in bankruptcy. -HO trusted 'that the
income of the courts of bankruptcy would enable them
to dispense with all fees except entrance fees, and that
these would be reduced to the 'smallest- possible' amount
He then came to the mode of carrying out the pro-
ceedings in bankruptcy. The adjudication would be
made as soon aVtlie petition was presented ; immediatelq
on which an official assignee would be appointed to the
' estate, who would discharge the duties now devolving
upon the messenger. At present there were a host of
restless functionaries, all ,to be paid out of the estate;
ffe proposed to abolish the messengers altogether; The
present; preAta the itniissehieri were eormon4 while
his duties were done by deputy at smalircharges, The
official assignee would have the Charge of the estate
until the creditors' assignees were chosen. The prin.;
ciple of the bill was that the 'estate(' of the- debtor
belonged to the creditor, and it should belong to the
majority-of-the—creditors definiteTfrOdeCide upon the
course to be pursued, tq the difficult
question of the division of powers and duties between
the official and creditors assignee, various opinions

,existed as to the plan to be adopted. He pitipbsect 'to

take a middle. course, so that, if the majority ofithe
Creditors desired it, the official assignee shonid deliver
ail moneys, app the management of the estate, to the
creditors' assignee, aid that the official affsigno should
henceforth take the position of anditor tq the creditors'

assignee. He proposed' further, that, the „creditors'
assignec.shmild render quarterly acoounts, to be audited
by the official assignee, who should see that all the
;moneys were properly paid into the Bank of .Erighiq.
The position of the estate should be reduced to a printed
acceut4, 414 401}t iq 6YerY Prplitot within three months
after the bankruptcy. Witl rq•EtF4 to the etnolimient
of the official
,itssignees, fnq4 that in Londob, at
present, this amounted, by fees, to about - 41;500 a
year, and to £1,200 in the country. He proposed that
in future, independent of the allowance for clerks, the

official assignee should have a certain minimum salary.
of 48Q0 a year, to bp 411.91;4094 by court, according

to pipttnt of business;t4ll it reached a. maximum of
X 1,500 yearly, As to' the certificates, in the granting
"of, these the greatest. fi;consistency ptevelle in the
actual courts--one court granting fiiit-class certificates
to one in twenty-eight, another to one in fourteen, and
a third to one in four. These mattersall trengbed upon
criminal proceedings: tpld proposed to grautith a;
court of criminal proceedings tile power of' &airlifts on
the suspension of certificates: As to the estates' 6f
pers4s declared ill Solvents, those were now administered
Y the 094 of Cht-eiy ill Tower Tally elte4l),
and exp4ticus—at au average cost not eiiqeding five!
per cent. on the value of the estate. Ho would still
leave this power in the hands of that court. •ThF•thitips
could not be performed more cheaply by private persons.,
ye 4rw4l-,1 /that the house
,would endeavour in goin-'
tpittee 'to render 'this bill as perfect as possible ; tpro-
g9siip, if the bill Nyep read a second time, to take the
emplace as soon as possible after faster.

Sir V. KELLY congratulated the liouse on the intro-,
duction Of a measure which he believed 'would be of
listing benefit to the country. He was rejoiced to find,
that the existing cumbrous machinery of bankruptcy,
-would be entirely swept qivti,
lsir. Bowyer, Mr. Dfalins, the Solicitor-q-eheral; 11fr.
Bazley, bfr. Murray, Mr. Bouverie, and
,4;-.
approved generally of the measure, while .critioisillg
some of its details.

Leave, was then given to introduce the bill.
The ATTORNEY-CltxpeA.i.. for Ireland moved for leave

to introduce .a bill to remove doubts as to the application
of the Common LOdging-houses Acts tq Ireland, and to
explain aid amend the provisions of the same as far as
they relate to Ireland: The object of the .bill was

limply to extend the provisions of the English L.,oiiging•
house Act to Ireland, and toltiplain and amend its pro-'

Leave was:then given to introduce the bill.
The House then went into committee on the Customs

Acts.
The CnixcELLou of the 11XCHEQUER 'Moved that
from the Ist if January, 1861, to the Ist of January,
1862, the hop.duty should be 20s. per, owtr; and 15s.

afterthe Ist of January, 1862.
•
Mr: DODSON moved, as an amendment, that after
January, 1862, the duty should be fixed by Parliament,
leaving the question open. t
The OttANOELLon of, the EXCI*EQIIEIt -protested
against assuming the functions of the Parliament of next
year; as was done-by the atnendinent.
Mr. &any retorted that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer was hiniself doing Precisely the same.
The ,CRA.rrettLoa of the ExettEguEtt replied thit lie
Ny's legislatinK for 1862, 4; the direct request of tb4b`ou

The amendment was negatived by 138 to 104.
The resolution was then agreed to.
The resolution of a duty of Is. per ton on foreign and
colonial built ships was then agreed to.
After some formal business, the House adjourned at
ten minutes to twelve. ,

REFRESHMENT HOUSES AND WINE
LICENSES BILL.

•
The bill on this subject, to ,be brought in by :the
Chancellor•Of the Exchequer, was published yesterday
morning. 4) e, give a snmmary of the important clauses.
The following are the sums to be paid for licenses.
For every license to keep a refreshment
house :
Z• s. d.
the house and premises in respect of tu,',„, ad;
which such license shall be granted shall • • ,
tie tindef the rent and value Of 40 a year 010 6
And if the same shall be of the rent or
value of £2O a year or upwards . 1 1 0
And for .every•licence to be granted as herein-
after mentioned to any licensed keeper of
a refreshment' house to sell therein by retail . •
foreign wine to be consumed in such hoUse
or on the premises belonging thereto:---
If such house and premises shall be under •
the rent and value of £5O a year '. . 3 0
And if the same shall be of the rent or
• value of £5O a year or upwards ' . . 5.
And for every license to be taken out by
by person for the selling by retail in
any shop of foreign wine not to be On-
- snmed in the house-or shop or-on the -
. . . .*
'premises where sold 3 3 0
I. Every person keeping. a' shop entitled to take out
license to retail wine not to be consumed therein. •
11. Every sale of foreign wine in any less quantity
than two 'gallons, or in less than one dozen reputed
quart bottles, at one time, shall he deemed fo be a
selling by .retail.
111. Drinking wine in a neighbouring house, abed,
&c., with intent to evade the provisions of the Act, to be
deemed drinking on the premiseS. ,
IV. Every person who shall keep any houSe for the
purpose of selling any refreshment to be consumed on
the premises; shall respectively •be deemed to keep a
refreshment house, and shall take out a license under the
Act.
'VII. No license shall be required under this,' Act to
authorise any person to keep a refreshment hkse-Which;
with the premises thereto belonging shall be‘iander the
rent or value of £lO a-year. If the same shall not be
situate within any town or place containing a popula-
tion exceeding 10 000 according to the last Parliaraen-
tall' census,.
Eiery parson who shall keep a refreshment
house with Out a proper license shall forfeit the sum of
£2O.

XII. Notice of ifirst application fot a wine license for
a refreshment house, to be given to justices,. who may
object o the granting thereof, on grounds that the holise
for which such license is required is not a confectioner's
shop, or an eating house, within the meaning of this act,
Or that it is a 'disorderly house, or a house frequented by
disorderly persons.
XIII: Justices marobject to the renewal of a wine
license, if they shall see just cause of objection.
XXIV. Nolpersou licensed under this act to sell wine
lay retail before the hour of four o'clock in the morning
nor after eleven o'clock at night of any day in the week,
nor at any time during which the house's of licensed
victuallers now are or hereafter kW be required bylaw.
to be closed on any Suucl43,! .
ry. 401A5c.5, sale of wine to, be
closed by 93.8* ayi austices in *es of riot;

PEATN Q .TIVE COUNTESS OF ; GRANVILLE.—We
regret to announce the death of the Countess of Gran-
ville. She expired on Wednesday morning at BrighOn.-