The Express.
London, England, 1848-04-12 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Tms DAT.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
Before Mr. Conics Wooer Goo Thorn.
IMPORTANT CAdE.—The spplication of Alexander Rainy,
auction, er and estate-agent, Regent street, for his certificate,
adjourned from Friday last, was resumed this morning.
The Commissioner, in giving judgment, observed that the
cane was one of great importance to the public, as well as
to the bankrupt himself. Most grave charges had been
urged against the bankrupt,—ta the effect that he had
committed a fraud on the Rev. Dr. Ogle (brother
of Admiral Sir C. Ogle), by the misappropriation of 8001. ;
that he bad been guilty of reckless—not to say dishonest—
conduct as a trader, and that he had given a fraudulent pre-
ference to Messrs. Coutta and Co. on the very verge of his
bankeuptcy. He considered that the firs, charge had been
established. The bankrupt seemed to have entertained the
idea that he had a right to get hold of everybody's money,
and, when they asked for it, load them with vituperation
and abuse. His accounts, which commenced in January,
1837, though clever, were fallacious, and he was clearly
then insolvent. He owed creditors upwards of 14,0001.,
to meet which he had only 4,0001. at the bank, and 8,0001.
owing, great part of which was b.cl debts. It had been
stated to be a custom with auctioneers, when employed to
effect sales for gentlemen, to constitute themselves bankers
for their employers, and evade the payment of the proceeds
until every small charge was settled ; thus they formed a
sort of scrambling fund, out of which to live at the expense
of their customers, and sometimes paying one man's money
to another. If such were the custom of the trade, it was
certainly one more honoured in the breach than in the ob•
serrance. In this case several distinguished individuals had
been thus dealt with, including Lord Spencer, Lord
Willoughby D'Hresby, Sir C. Ogle, Earl Amherst, and
others. The trading here had been conducted on a very
erroneous principle, the bankrupt had made himself a kind
of steward, and was bound to have paid the money received
when it wan demanded of him. He had entered a large sum
ea profit in his balance-sheet, 51,0831., but this turned out to
be the pus amount of business he had done, from
which the expenses, 20,6001. the bad debts,
5,3811. ; repairs to his premios, 2,3.:0/., liw rxp..os..s
and interest, 2,2001. ; and other charges—ought to be
deducted; whereby the nett profits were reduced t
10,5551, or about 1,0001. a year. His expenditure was put
down at 18,5261.; he was a single man, and without incum-
branee. Of this sum 7,0001. was put down for housekeeping,
about 1001. a year for wine, 2001. a year for wearing apparel,
3001. a year for servants' wages, and 1701. a year for medical
attendance. This was undoubtedly a m-at extravagant ex-
penditure. But the most objectionable part of his
trading was that, during the latter years, while held out
to the world as the proprietor of a showy-looking
gallery and a large house, he had in reality transferred all
his property to Messrs. Coutts. Then there was the charge
of fraudulent preference, by which Messrs. Coutts had ob.
tamed t
art-elsepossesson of ll his property the day before he apeared in the .It was clear the bankrupt hail lone
his best to secure this undue preference ; and it
made his case no better that Messrs. Coutta, after
'aking advice, and considering their own very high
character and position, had wisely determined to relinquish
possession. Upon the whole, the charges had been sub-
stantiated, and the bankrupt's conduct could not be passed
without very severe reprobation end a very severe penalty.
He (the commissioner) had been doubting since Friday
' whether it was not his duty to the public to prevent Mr.
Rainy ever again embarking as a trader; he was al-
ways anxious to avoid such an extreme course where it was
possible, especially knowing that from his judgment there
was no appeal. He had, therefore, sought mitigating cir-
cumstances in this case, and found that the bankrupt
had not adopted the common cour e
s of
scrapingscrn
together all the good debts he could
hands ;he had left sufficient to pay a dividend of
3s. in the pound, with the prospect of some further small
' sum. He had also rendered every a-sistance to the official
assignee in preparing the accounts; and these circumstances
induced him not to withhold the certificate altogether, but
to suspend it for a considerable period,—for three years,
dating from the first application for the certificate (25th
June last.)

THE DESTRUCTION OF ST. MATTHIAS CHURCH
AT LIVERPOOL, briefly reported in the Express of yes-
terday, is thus described by the local paper. "On blonde
afternoon, about one o'clock, smoke, and soon afterwards
flames, were seen to issue from the windows and roof of St.
Matthias Church, in Love-lane, a little to the northw
but ard of
the Borough Gaol. The alarm was instantly given to
rapid was the combustion that, though the engines came
up as speedily as possible, the interior was in a short time
entirely consumed. The bare walls are all that are left
standing. The building was a neat modern structure, of
Grecian design, chiefly of brick, with stone facings and
It had beenpurchased by the Liverpool and
sources, Railway Company, p
who, as their line (upon arches)
is immediately contiguous, purposed to pull it down, and
have built another church in lieu of it in the neighbour-
hood. Whilst the church was on fire the wind was blow-
ing rather fresh from the mouth-east, and drove the flames
through the winiows on the north aide (six in number)
so close upon Emma Ann-street that the inhabitants
had to escape, and the whole row of houses and
courts forming the street would have been burnt down
but for the firemen directing the waterpira against them.