The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-20 00:00:00

OFFICIAL ASSIGNEES IN BANSItUPTci.

EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS.
(From the Times.)
In April last the Lord Chancellor, displeast4
with the amounts of the official assignees and messengers
of the Court of Bankruptcy for the Leeds district, re.
quested Mr. Commissioner Ayrton, mu of the oonithis-
: amen there, and Mr. Harding, the well-known hoodoo
accountant, to institute a rigid eraminatiou and scrutiny
of all their books, and to report to him on the subjrct.
The result of this investigation turned out to be of so
very lamentable a character that his lordship, halo,
' diately it was made known to him, followed up his
request by issuing an order directing a similar proceeding
as to the accounts of every official assignee and mei.
mager in all the district courts in the cotintrv, with power
also to inquire into the manlier in which the bills of outs
were taxed by the registrars of the various courts. That
order was dated the 20th of May last, and is u follows :

" Lord Chancellor.—ln Bankruptcy.
" Friday, May 20, 1564.
" Whereas defaults have from time to thus been made I,x
several of the official assignees of the Court of Bankruptcy,
and serious losses have thereby been occasioned to creditors
under bankrapt estates, and it is desirable that each occui•
renom should be prevented for the future ; and whereas,
from a recent investigation directed by me into the accounti
of the official assignees and nraseengers of the Court of Brak•
rooky for the Leeds district, it appears to me to be exik.
disci that the books and accounts of every official assignee
and mesranger of the cart should undergo a similar 6,04.
Motion ; and whereas I deem it necessity also to inquire
into the master in which the taxation of bills of costs by
the registrars, both at Leeds and in the other district
courts, is conducted. Now, by virtue of the Bankruptcy
hot, 1861, and of every authority vested in me, I do hereby
give power and authority to William &rope Ayrtoe, Esq.,
one of the Commissioners of the Court of Bankruptcy fcr
the Leeds district, aid Robert Palmer Harding. of Beak.
buildings, Lotbbury, in the City of Loath's, accountant, to
make farther inquiry into the matter aforesaid in the Court
of Bankruptcy for the Leeds district, sod also to investigate
I sod make inquiry into such matters in the Courts of Bank.
' rooky at Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Liverpool, Mar..
chaster, and Newcastle, and to report fully to me thereon,
!with power to them to *ramie' such persons and to Call
for the production of such books, papers, and proceedings
las they may think fit. W I:B7I3CHT, C."
We believe the inquiry under this order has been tom-
, plated so far as regards the courts at Leeds, Birmingham,
Manchester, and Liverpool, and the remit is that, besides
the discovery of many very grass irregularities, it has been
found that large sums of money have been improperly
I retained, both by the official assignees sad by the
messengers, which ought to have bees paid over to the
Chief Registrar's account—sums, we are told, already
amounting in the segregate to upwards of 14,ouui.
The examinatioes at Lead/ and Birmingham were, we
believe, completed io time to be oommeaioatel to the
parliamentary committee on bankruptcy, and as the
'widows taken before that committee, and a appendix COL.
tabling a variety of documents that wore called for, will be
printed in the course of • few days, the public will soon
have an opportunity of forming a jadgeseet on the import.
awe of the inquiry directed by the Lord Chancellor, and
still in coarse of prosecution, and on the diaclosures which
have hence come to light. If all we hear be true, we are
only afraid that his lordship will very generally be con.
sidered to have been but too lenient with the offenders—to
have erred on the side of mercy. We believe it la his lord.
ship's intention that the inquiry shall be extended to the
accounts of the official assignees and messengers acting in
London,

A 'modal of this kind, intending to several of our beck.
ruptcy courts, if not to all, touches our system of bankrupt
kw in its most vital point. The official assignee is the life
and soul of the proceedings in their most important stages,
and may ander certain circumstances retain the whole prat.
Boa control of them. It is he who immediately upon sd.
jadmation takes possessioci of the iota* attend/ the bet
mealier; of creditors, and gives information about meets and
debts ; assumes the custody of all books and documents, if'
the court should so order ; collects and moven all
debte doe to the bankrupt under 101. ; receives and cheeks
Use acciosals of the creditors' assignee, if ore should
have been appointed, every three months ; assists in
almost every subsequent Mee, reappears as sole trustee
at ter the discharge of the creditors' asaigues, sad where
there is no creditors' waives le the one responsible person
from begiaaing to end. The messenger is his agent
throughout, and is bound to render bim an account of his
owe Meese for fees and disbursements. The oonsequeace
is that there in scarcely any limit to the peerdatioo of which
such an atom may be guilty, under various pretests, and
it was no doubt to mitigate thb tomptatioa that a large
fixed salary was assigned to him by the last Bankruptcy
Act. By the 31st section of that Mantel it wee,
expressly provided that future oesiml assignees is
the country distriete should be entitled to no re.
!numeration b.yood the 8001. a year thereby as.
signed to them, 'motet to Mina of certain neoesemy
outgoiop to be allowed by the exert. Examitiee was takes
to the clause oa the very ironed that it deprived the credi.
tors of a valuable guarantee for the official assignee's seal in
their behalf ; but it ought at Lest to have served as a safer
fused ageing' malpractices. At the same time it ma
strongly urged that the Mikis of messenger should be
abolished altogether ; and though tale suggestion was not
adopted, their stipends were strictly limited by the act, and
by subeequent mend orders they were sompelled to verify
the statement of their actual receipts by oath, and to pay
over the surplus to the chief registrar's account. The
miecionduct, thank.% to which our information pieta
meet have bees gram, not to my criminal, Indeed, and
mere dissaimsl .may well appear too light a punishment
for it.

LORD BURY, M.P., AND rim DATISPORT

BROTHERS.

In the letter respecting Use Davenport Brothers,
addremed to the daily papers • week ego by Mr. Boseicanit,
was the followias perms :—" At the termiaatios of the
inns a general coerenades took plate os the subject of
what we heard and wilammeedL Lewd Ban saggorted that
the 'costal opinion seemed to be that we eiould mare
the Brothers Davenport sad Mr. W. Fay, that after a very
stringent trial and arid sentiay of the4proceeding, the
gentlemen premed weld arrive at so other Dosclusion than
that there was no trace of trickery is ea, form, sod cer-
tainly there were Didier confederates nor machinery, and
that all those who had witnessed the results would freely
state in the society is which they moved, that so far as
their ineeetigatioaa 'sable them to feral as opinion, the
phenomena which had takes place is their prunes were
Dot the project of legerdemain. This session was
promptly seceded to by al purist." Lord , rather
late a the day, bar• latest in this moral s Times,
°seeding the foregoing statessest is • very seasotial per.
tirsular. Be gars :--•• After the performanoe which Mr.
Boasimalt deemibegapapgr was headed round which I and
others won asked to sign. It referred the manifestesiosi
to some mysterious agency which elsotifio men were
earnestly entreated to investigate, sod, it I remember right,
gave a sort of certificate to the performers that, after careful
invertigatioe, we could And no tram of trickery of any
farm. The gentleman who had the paper argued that it
would be sizoply fair to the Brothers Davenport if we gave
them some inch certificate. lat ease aid that we should
only make ourselves ridiculous if we Aped snob • paper,
and I for one refused to do so. !added that all the Brothers
Davenport mould marmeably gaped from as was that we
should state is society the mien* truth, via., that we had
failed to detect any widows* of Miami or ealunies. Mr.
Bowing' It makes no 'mystics of this paper ; it was with.
drawn. I have really loomed no theory whatever on the
subject of the performanoe. I west to see • show, and I
entirely object to being held a 8 the apologist for the
showmen becomes I have failed to damage their mode of
operation."

Vice-Admiral Henry Prancas Grerille, C. 8.,
died o• Tuesday lest, steer • long insane, et hie county
ass i• Barkelaire, tweed 70.

An interesting oeremon7 took place in Glasgow
Cathedral on Tuesday—ban the formal preseetatioe to
the Board of Works at the series of painted windows with
which the cathedral has been decorated. The Eight Hr.
W. Cowper, Pint Commisifter of the Board of Watt
was anoint. iii aseepties the subeorfbers' eft delivered
an interesting adders on the subject of church decoration.
THE NORTH LONDON INDUSTRIAL NXIIIBMON.
—The hold thaw sehibitiam have apes the waking
claire wee tally shown lest night, whale the stiesdasce
wee so gnat that at hall-past 8 o'clock all dome were
obliged to be eland. Tale were 18,000 porous pried the
teneekles. Dering the reales a Band of Hope damasks-
Mos took plan leader the sissegereeet dMr. Hosier. The
orabakre eratilled with upward@ at 1,000 eliildres, am-
bers al the variom temperssee eselikke is North Lemke.
who sang a cambia of mild& amiedles sad Dow, mos-
inwil&Dl with " Welcome,' to Roamosn's muds, aid me•
chaise with " God Mom ear Yoathial Band.' The 0"
i"1
WWI admirably rag, ea hied, spikeeiated by ski m•
memo sadism%