The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-13 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.

eNFONE kn. COmMideIONVI STEVBNSON.
IN Ng HYSK LEvt.—Yesterday, Mr. Commissioner
Stevenson delivered judgme. in this case as follows :
This certificate is opposed on behalf of the assignees, as
well as on behalf of Messrs Brown and Kortoski and Mr.
Nathan, other creditors of the bankrup% The objecrien
taken on the part of Messrs. Brown and Kortoski and Mr,
Nathan a-a, that their respeetive debts hale been con-
tracted by fraud, and that of Mr. Nathan also under false
pretences ; and those on the part of the assignees, as well
as of these other creditors, are on the. ground of his
eying wilfully, and with intent to conceal the true state
of his aff'ai'rs, kept his books imperfecly and negligently,
all severally constituting offences within the 256:h section
of the 13enkrupt Act, and generally also on the ground of
misconduct as a trader. These objections are founded
upon the following circumstances i—The bankrupt corn.
meneed business as a general clothier and outfitter in
Birmingham shortly previous to 1854, and in February,
1814, he also commenced the same business in Liverpool ;
and from February, 1854, to July in the same year, he con-
tinuedto carry on this business in both places, residing prin-
cipally in Liverpool, and the business in Birmingham being
rn ;trio ged by his brother Morris, at a weekly salary. In Stine,
1854 the bankrupt ,-omporindet v'th his creditorsinaeing them
as 8d in the pound, for which he borrowed £240 from his
fathez--in-law, which hes sin ;e been repaid. In July, 1854,
the bankrupt finding, as he alleges) that-he could not
manage to carry on the two shops, sold the Birmingham
business, which was tt en being carried on in Edgebssten-
street, to his brother Morris, including the furniture and
fixtures and a part of the stock, the remainder of Which
stock he brought to hie shop in Liverpool. In September,
1850, a shop for the same kind of business was opened in
Monmouth-street, Birmingham, which the bankrupt alleges
was taken by his brother Morris, and in which the busi-
ness has ever since been carried on ostensibly by his
brother on his own sole account. From various circum-
stances, the opposing as well as other creditors of the
bankrupt strongly suspect that the business of these shops
at. Birminghanebelonged to him, and have been carried on
for his sole benefit. But, strong as these suspicions have
been, the creditors have not thoutht proper to institute
any proceedings for maintaining their supposed right to the
stock and property in these shops ; and, therefore, it has
been considered —and, I think, rightly so—that this court
cannot take upon itself on the present occasion to determine
the rights of the parties ; so that, in reference to the present
questions on the certificate, it must be considered that the
stock and property in these shops belong to the bankrupt's
brother. But it Is impossible, I think, after reading the
different testimonies on the file of these proceed ngs of
Mr. Angell, the traveller for Mr. Nathan, of Mr. Blonken-
see, a jeweller at Birmingham, and of Mr, Bellot, a manu-
facturer at Manchestee, and notwithstanding the positive
denial of the bankrupt, to come to any other conclusion
than that he has stated to all those wimesses, whether

true or false, that he was possessed of those two chops in
Birmingham ; so that either these shops did actually at
the time of his bankruptcy belong to him, and the stock
therein form part of his assets, and that he has conse-
quently grossly defrauded his creditors, or that in making
these statements to be considered as false, he has gained
credit upon the strength of them. Bat, for the reasons I
have before given, I cannot act upon any opinion I may
form upon the question to ahem these shops at Binning-
belonged,„and therefore I must, on this occasion, con-
s;der that the bankrupt has made false representations on
this subject. These false representatiens appear to affect
the contracting of the debt due to Mr. Nathan. By the
testimony of Mr. Ansell, Mr. Nathan's traveller, it appears
that on the occasion of his calling on the hsnkrupt at his
shop in Liverpool, and on his (Hr. Ansell'sy receiving an
order from him. and asking for a reference, the bankrupt
told him that he had two sh ps in Birminghim, and the
witness states that he felt satisfied after the bankrupt's
representation, that he had two shops at Birmingham, and
then sent the order to London. The bankrupt, it is true,
denies that he slid anything of the kind ; but considering
how strongly Mr. Ansell's testimony is corroborated by
that of all the other witnesses, I cannot give any craft to
the bankrupt's testimony on this subject. and, theref )re, I
think it is clearly e.tablished that this debt of Mr. Nathan's
was contracted on the faith of these representations, and,
consequently, by fraud, and, as I must consider it, on a
false pretence, and constitutes an offence within the 3rd
division of see. 256 of the Bankrupt Act. The debt of
Mr. Bronkensee world also appear by this testimony to
have been contracted in like manner; but as this creditor
has not given notice of opposition to this certificate I must
dismiss the objection on this ground from any consideration,
as it is purely a personal objection, capable of being taken
only `by himself. The objection taken on the part of
Messrs. Brown and Kortoski arises f, ma the circutn-
eatica of the bankrupt having pledged several watches
which he bad purchased of them within a short time
after such purchase—about a fortnight, as the bank-
rupt states. If I could come to the conclusion that
these watches were purchased with the inten-
tion at the time of thus disposing of them, and not
for the purpose of disposing of them in the usual way of
business, I should be bound to consider this as a most
serious objection, calling even, perhaps, for a refusal of
the certificate ; but however suspicious the circumstances
may be, I do not feel justified in coming to such a con-
clusion, for it seems that the bankrupt was in the habit of
purchasing watches for the purposes of his business, and
his statements that he was induced to pledge those watches
on account of pressure from some of his creditors, in the
payment of whose debts he applied the money arising from
this pledging, seems to be borne out by the items in his
cash account; and, moreover, it is admitted that at a
meeting f his creditors, shertly previous to his bankruptcy,
he mentions this pledging and produced the tickets
Under these circumstances I am bound to consider that
this objection is not substantiated. The decision in the
case of 'a parte Martyn, 2 De Ger, M'Naghten and Gordon,
page 225, shows that under like circumstances a bankrupt
was not considered to have committed an offence which the
court c mild hold to be an objection to his certificate. With
regard to the objection as to the bankrupt's books having
been kept im perfectly and negligently and wilfully with intent
to conceal the true state of his affairs, the only book
which the bankrupt has kept in reference to his affairs is
certainly in a most imperfect and unintelligible state, to
he understood only by himself, and the bankrupt has kept
no cash book, which he states he did before his failure in
July, 1854, but the reason why he afterwards ceased to do
so does not transpire. I have always felt considerable
difficulty in connecting imperfect or negligent b eakkeeping
with a wilful intent, and with the object of concealing the
true sate of a trader's affairs, so as to bring the case
within either the 2nd or 9th divisions of the 256th section
If the terms used in this section had been wilfully careless
or negligent bookkeeping, without requiring any particular
intent, there would frequently be no doubt in applying the
provision in the act to many cages ; and the present ease
is one in which I cannot satisfactorily arrive at the con-
clusion that there was such a wilful intenion as the act
requires. There is, however, clearly such a gross
and wilful negligence and carelessness in this case as,
added to the want of a proper cash-book, to justife the
court under its discretionary power to deal with this ob-
jection as one calling for its severe censure, there being
no means of the creditors being satisfied that the bankrupt
has made a full or truthful disclosure of his affairs. With
respect to the alleged general misconduct of the bankrupt
as a trader, it appears that on his continuing his business
after his failure in July, 1854. he recommenced with a de-
ficiency of £lO7, and that a part of his ouliy consisted of
payments to the amount of 25 per cent commission,
amounting in the whole to the large sum of £625. This'
the bankrupt allege% to be a very common course of trading
in his business ; but, suppoairg it to be so, such a large
outlay as this, without a sufficient business or capital to
warrant it, as appears to be the case in this instance, seems
to me to be very objectionable, and to amount in fact to
such a reckless kind of trading of which the creditors
have just reason to complain. Upon the whole, there-
fore, I think this is a case calling for the severe censure rf
the court, and for a long suspension of the bankrupt's
certificate, which I accordingly direct to be suspended for
twelve calendar months, and to be without protection,
and of the second class. Mr. Pemberton, who appeared
for the bankrupt, gave notice of app-al, and protection for
twenty-one days was ranted to enable him to d r so. Mr.
Woodburne appeared on behalf of the assignees.

INGENIOUS DEVICE.-9 fellow who had undertaken to
serve some sulopceias, finding the roads in a shocking con-
dition, wrote a note to each of the parties statint, that a
sum of money was deposited in hi.: hands, which they cold
have by cilling on him. They called and got a eubpne is
and 121 cents ta,3l).

iron TEXASON.—The Cincinnati Commlrcial, in an
article to show that some poisoning at the Naional Hotel
in Washington was in reality an attempt to make away with
President Buchanan, prints the following extract from a
private letter, written in Washington but a few days ago :
—"I saw, passing a gaslight, a couple of gentlemen, one of
whom, although I had not seen him for over sixteen years,
I almost knew to be the President. I stepped alongside,
and a glance informed me that I was not mistaken. The
old man totters. His legs are weak. A half stumble drew
some remark from his companion which I did not hear.
His reply was, lam not right ;my health is not recovered,'
adding, in a sort of begging tone, But lam getting
better.' His voice is weak, and his legs are weaker
He is going, depend upon it. A few more weeks, and he
will he no more. A vain young orator from Kentucky
will be the acting, and his friend Stephen Douglas the
actual, President of these United States."