The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-25 00:00:00

QUEBEC,

sed Rooms for

sth Mar,

.8 who wish to be more select, can be

reserved for those who require them.
Berths in the First and Second Cabin, and Steerage, can be
ured by remitting a deposit of Li to the undersigned, who will
any information respecting the passage to the above porta, and

to the interior

SABEL & CORTIS, 3

53, Fulton-street,

, Regent-road • and

ve4 York.

STEAMERS HAVE RESUMED WEEKLY SAILINGS

York, H

x and Boston, .e 6 per ton a'

)lITHEEN

40SCIUS .....
Winnesota, Allen
riconderoga, Boyle
Constellation. Allen

Government

'igniter Stattg.

FOR BOSTON.
Weekly during the Season.

ments of the Government Officers, t
tickets will

hicator." An ext
Dogs charged £3

RIIYI

PENN

FARES.

EMIGRATION TO AMERICA

.1' -4-' 1-,:‘'' GRINNELL'S "SWALLOW TAIL" LINE
OF PACKET-SHIPS.
London, Hübbard....
New World, Knight ...... 1500 Constantine, Alacoduck 2OOO
Ontario. Wood (new shlp).. i5OO American Union, Caldwell 1500
Albert Gallatin, Delano .... 1600 Plymouth Rock, Hammond,lsoo

. —th Feb.
2000
20110
2000

FOR NEW YORK
. Merrihew 2060
IiOW Andrew Foster, Swift
..... 1500 West Point, Mulliner ,_ _
.....2500 Underwriter, Shipley ..

The Subscribers continue to dispatch the above Packet-ships,
weekly. Provisions will be supplied to the passengers during the
voyage according to the act of parliament. Parties residing at a
distance can have berths secured by remitting a deposit of
for each person going. Parties desirous of transmitting money to
their friends in Amence,can have drafts at sight for .€1 and up-
wards. payable on ow- house at New York. For Cabin, Poor
Second Cabin, an i Steerage Passage ,apply to
BOWMAN, ORINNELL & C0.,5 Regent.:
dock, blverpot I ; and 87. South-street, New York.
N.B.—Passengers going by these p-cket--hips can .h:.ve their
luggag, stored free, in a warehouse attached to the aloe

oad, Clarence-

NOTICE.—The Stea-n-ship CITY OF BALTIMORE, Captain
ROBERT LEITCH, is intended to sail for Pnir,ansm,rira, in all the
mon.h of Apr:l, or ac soon as she can be got from the French

y, LIVERPOOL & PHILADELPHIA
-44 :7.,.b., STEAM-SHIP COMPANY'S
v•gq... :ill. ,h-T- , IRON SCREW STEAM-SHIPS
CITY OF BALI MORE 2367 tons.. Capt. Robt. Leitch
CITY OF WAS IINGTON 2380 tons.. Capt. Wm. Wylie.
CITY OF MAN 711,'S!ER 2109 tons.. Capt. P. C. Petrie.
KANGAROO lB'4 tons.. Capt. R. Ewing.
RATES OF PASSAGE FROM LIVERPOOL.
Cabin, in two berth state-rooms, Twenty-one Guineas each berth

seventeen Guineas each berth

..te same privileges, and
passengers will be taken at
~visions as required; and these
at in order to satisfy the require-
he date tilled into their contract
every case the date of the day preceding the fixed
hese steamers carry " Phillip's Patent Fire Anni-
perienced Surgeon Is attached to each steamer,
each. Freight per ton, and Unmaoufactured

le here or in

7, Walnut-strcet

in ti eirast, to tvonarason tirottlers & Co.; In Dublin, to Corneline
Carleton; In London, to the Amelicar-Euro}ean Fry ek Co., 17
Ccrn-hill; In Park to Fred. Redfern, 8, Rue de la Pals; In Havre
to W. Davidson; in Manchester to George Stonier; and In Liver-
pool to

.0, I and 13, Tower-buildings.
e completed, and sufficient good

isels, nroceed to.i3AL
,la. or other ports on th 4

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE

LIVERPOOL, FEBRUARY 25,

WIND YESTERDAY—West—Light,

ARRIVFD,

FIMES.-LIVERPOOL, MONDAY FEBRUARY , 1868,

ILAW OF DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES,

Sir,—l purpose addressing a letter or two to you, on
the present position of debtor and creditor, on the law as
it now stands, and the way in which it is administered to
these two important personages, in this hot bed of com-
merce—Liverpool.
I will begin with the Guardian Society, as this society'
by its secret and private correspondence, aims at
affording such information to the creditor, before the debt
is contracted, as to, almost, prevent the necessity for the
law courts, of which I purpose to speak.
I cannot, as a member of this very excellent society,
say too much in favour of its utility, the ready and
courteous warnings of its secretary and his staff, who are
ever ready and civil with correspondence that is au fait,
as to the positions of those inquired of. The secretary's
written replies, containing the words "avoid," "be
cautious," "not fit to be trusted," and "poor as a rake,"
are generally decisive to the Liverpoolian, whether or not
to send his goods. In such cases of admonition, those
who do send goods might as well throw them into the
Mersey. Though it does happen, vigiliant as the agents
of this society are, the dishonest and fraudulent, never-
theless, do get goods on the wrong side of the ledger, but
without its aid where should we be ? Perhaps, some will
say, it would be much better that the head of this society
would use all his gas and brilliancy of intellect, for the
purpose of throwing a Ray of light on the movements of
absconding debtors, so as to show them up, magic-lantern
like, in Liverpool, in time to enable their creditors to see
them an. get paid, before they embark for Australia,
America, &c., rather than bother about the price and
quality of gas, whether in the drawing-room or Kitchen.
I shall now pass to the County Court, presided over by
a model judge—a judge ,who is counsel, advocate, and
judge, for the poorest person who comes before him, as
claimant or defendant—when he has the power to deal
equitably, he is always just, courteous, and humane ; and,
when it is a question of law, he deals out the law, so
legally, that I believe his decisions have never been
reversed. He has done much besides simply administrat-
ing the law as he found it. He has memorialised the
Home Secretary to allow fraudulent debtors to be im-
prisoned at Kirkdale ; because the expenses of sending to
Lancaster, persons for small sums, made the costs of
commitment greater than the original debt. Such persons
knowing the cure was a greater loss to the creditor than
the disease, held out, and defeated the judge's order. What
is the case now ? Why, that small debtors, having the
fear of Kirkdale before them, pay. rather than go to prison.
Does not J. Pollock, Esq., deserve the thanks of all suitors
in his court generally, and the tradesmen in Liverpool
in particular ? I hold him a benefactor to society, who
endeavours to compel all debtors to pay what they truly
owe. The county court could be much improved, and
the surprise is, that tradesmen do not attempt to make
it,—good as it is when compared with the original county
courts for 395. lid. only, and at the county town only—
much more efficient. This could be done without injury,
hardship, or harshness to any one. The costs of enter-
ing a cause is Ed. in the pound, and the trial of the same
2s. 3d., or together, 3s. 7d. in the pound ; besides wit_
nesses, lawyers, mileage, and often executions. These
expenses are much too high; on very small
debts amounting to 100 or 200 per cent., and even
when their debt amounts to 51., to fully twenty
per cent ; I believe it impossible for persons to
long stand against suits of this kind, and pay such costs.
Yet, the County Courts' Act was :passed for the speedy
and cheap recovery of small debts. Creditors would act
humanely towards honest debtors, and fairly towards
themselves, by moving for the reduction of such costs ;
for it does appear to me hard, when a creditor has used
every means to get paid before he applies to a court of
law, thnt twenty per cent must be paid down on
the debt of long standing, before he has the
the power, perhaps, to enforce his claim, and then only—
by instalments—instalments which allow the debtor time
to move, miles away, without leaving his address. If the
debtor remains, continued suits and the instalment sys-
tem, lead invariably to the insolvent court. I intend to
say all I know in my next, if it meets your approbation,
Mr. Editor, on this same insolvency court.
Revenons a nos moutons. What can be more just than
when a debt has once been proved and the terms of credit
expired, that execution issue forthwith ?—as, I believe, is
the case in the superior courts ?
Debtcrs who pay 3s. sd. in the pound costs and by
instalments, are enabled by such periodical payments to
get into a much greater amount of debt, and to "do "
people deeper, than they possibly could, had they been
compelled to pay at once, in each suit.
There is another object worthy the attention of trades-
men. The superior courts, courts of Queen's Bench, &c.,
have lately decided that the suit in County Court must be
in the court of the jurisdiction where the sale, purchase, or
action on tort, arose.

Ordinary men, not being lawyers or M.P.'s, wonder why
a person living in Liverpool, and whose traveller sells
goods at Carlisle, Worcester, Norwich, &c., cannot sue in
Liverpool, where the goods were sent from, or where they
were sent to. In either case the verdict, in common debt
cases, must be the name, and the:costs of attendance also,
and no injustice done.

So it is not enough that the debtor has goods sent, costs
incurred in court, &c., but that the creditor must go to him
to sell, and to get paid, he must go to the debtor's door,
at considerable inconvenience to himself, and costs also,
and even then not sure of being paid, to sue the debtor.
Thus are all creditors placed by debtors, with whom all
means of getting paid have !ailed, at a great disadvantage,
for the creditor may have a dozen suits on one day in a
dozdn County Courts, and in half a dozen counties—a cir-
cumstance that could hardly occur to the sued ; and if it
did, the debtor has caused the evil by not complying with
the conditions of purchase.
You may be told there are the superior courts, if the
buyer and seller reside twenty miles apart. To do this
would be going back to the old state of things, which was
much worse than the present.
The lawyers managed to introduce a clause, perhaps
not of much importance; but, at least, it appears very
unfavourably in the act—that tradesmen, if the debt is
under £5O (why not sue for common debts up to
1:500?) must sue in the County Courts, but a lawyer may
sue for his bill of costs, however small (are they ever
small ?) the amount, in a superior court. Why don't
tradesmen petition Parliament for the abolition of this
partial portion of the County Court's Act?—lours, &c.,
T. 0.

IG II WATER—Morn., 1 4S —Eveg, 2 3 —Height, 16 1 4 'n

Feb. 22.—Pouvenir (s.s.), Santander. Feb. 23.—Mereedita !Ira-
allip li •Maria Helena, Llsb,n Edgeco n be, San.
tander—Ernneror (s.tr.), Gl.sgow—Sea Rover, Alexandria—Aolus,
Dunkirk. Feb. 24.—Arabia (H.M.S.), Boston.