The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-27 00:00:00

BANKRUPTCY COURT.

(BEFORE SIR. COMMISSIONRR STEVENSON)
In re STEPRANOFF.—The bankrupt was a native of
Russia, and traded as a commission agent since the year
1855 in Liverpool. He came up on Friday on his certifi-
cate examination, and was tupported by Mr. Aspinall
(instructed by Mr. Bardsley?, and opposed by Mr. Evans,
on the part of the trade assignee, Mr. Arkle, partner in
the banking house of Leyland, Pullen, and Co, the prin-
cipal creditors. The bankrupt was examined on some
points in relation to previous statements. and was in Many
' of them positively contradicted by Ma Arkle.
Evans opposed the granting of any certificate, and said he
appeared there on the Dart of the trade assignee, and
for the Very resrnte:nie firm of which he was a member,
and it wmitit be his duty to explse an amount of
criminal delinquency in this case of a kind not pre-
sented to this court before. He was. not there to make
any tirade upon any parties, who, being ioreignere,
came to this country to take part in the immense trade
of this empire, but he could not but observe that, in the
present instance, it was a relief to him to know that the
conduct pursued by the bankrupt in this due was not
the conduct of an Englishman. His Honor would see
that the transaction out of which this case arose was
based upon a document., upon which, had the bankrupt
chosen to act, there could have been no mistake. That
document was an agreement., dated in October, 1855,
and was entirely in his own handwriting, it was offered,
on his part, to the bank of Leyland, Sullen. and Co.
with 'which he commenced at that period to do business.
The bankrupt had been, for several years previously in
a house which withdrew from England in that year,
leaving him to carry on any business he could obtain on
his own account. The agreement contained the terms
put forward by himself as those on which he pro.
posed to do business with the bank, and they were
given to Mr. Arkle. The conditions were, that he would
not enter into any speculation on his own account ; that
he would not speculate for account of others without
sufficient security on profit and loss or the differences ;
that any advances he required should be entirely on a
commission business, with the greatest possible limit as
to time, and not in any case to exceed three months; that
such money as he had from the bank should be repaid within
it week, it at the most a fortnight, in cash or foreign
remittances, or his own drafts on London, or foreign houses
of standing and respectability, and should he make any
bad debt he undertook to advise the bank before he should
advise any one else. Such was the agreement, and had it
been carried ant, the business of this bankrupt would not
have, as it had done, resulted in disastrous loss. But in-
stead of abstaining from speculation on his own account, he
entered into several, in cotton, in rice, and in tallow.
True, the cotton was said to have been a gaining one to
the amount of £1,155, but it was no less a breach of the
agreement; and, if it had produced a loss, it was entered
into at a time when he had not a penny of his own to
meet it. The same with respect to the tallow, which
terminated in a very considerable loss. This was a spe-
culation with Messrs. Tybrant and Nevins; and with
respect to other matters, and especially to this transaction,
the bankrupt was clearly guilty of false representation.
First, he represented to Mr. Arkle that he was solvent in
September, 1856, and next he represented to Mr. Banner
(when examining his boeks) that this tallow was a bro-
kerage transaction, and would bring him £1.900. But
Mr. Banner's report showed him to be £5,C00, and up-
wards, in debt ; and that report bankrupt had adopted.
Then it appeared that the tallow was so entered in his
books as to enable him to represent it as a commission,
and that the entries which withdrew it from that, and
showed it to be ii speculation, were not made until after
bankruptcy, so that , Mr. Banner's report, showing the
b dance against him, was based on a supposed gain of
£1,900, whereas the transaction ended in a loss of
several thousands. Now,
.the mode of entering that
transaction showed that 'the bankrupt had not kept
proper boeks, or that he made false entries in
them, or that he wilfully withheld the information they
ought to disclose. Either brought him clearly under the
penalties in the 256th clause of the Bankrupt Act. Here
the contract was made in July, the entry was rot until
November, and the complete entry, showing the nature
of the transaction, not until after the bankruptcy. And
in this case the debts were £12,916 18s 3d, and there
was not one halfpenny to go to a divided, though there
might be as much as would bear expenses. (Mr. Aspinall
reminded Mr. Evans that there was a proceeding pends
ing for £1,600). But we have been defeated once in
that. It was in consequence of the fraud and misrepre-
sentation of the bankrupt that the respected gentleman,
who was trade assignee, in justice to himself as well as
to the commercial world, determined, at his own cost, to
exp use them. Now, if foreign g ntlemen came among
us, and were protected by the laws and benefitted by the
free institut;ons of this country, the country had a right
to expect 'hey would not be guilty of the base ingrati-
tude of this bankrupt to. Mr. Arkle and to the bank of
which he was a partner, involving him in a loss of nearly
£10,000„. He strongly relied upon it, and the whole of
the facts established the conclusion, that the bankrupt
had grossly deceived and defrauded he client. Mr.
Aspinall, for the bankrupt, said the observations of Mr.
Evans About our institutions showed he had a bad
case. The dealings of the bank with his client were based
on an agreement securing them an unfair prefeernce,
and if it had not been that his client had adhered to
that agreement, and that the bank had not continued the
advances, he would not be in that court. He urged
that the manner, of entering the latter transaction was
that adopted in the trade, and was not, therefore, false,
although it might be a bad way of doing it. There was no
doubt he had made a misrepresentation to Mr. Banner, bat
in all other respects Mr. Arkle was the cause of his doing
whatever he had done, foolishly, he admitted. He com-
plained of Ma Arkle's proceedings as vindictive, and the
manner in which his client acted in court showed he did
not intend, nor was he capable of defrauding any one. He
thought his ease was one of the lightest possible, and
though the character of the certificate might be affected,
the opposition must not be listened to. His Honour then,
having taken all the papers, said ho would give judgment
on Saturday, May 2.
By an error in copying; the certificate awarded to the
bankrupt, James Fell, by Mr. Commissioner Parry, on
Friday, was described in the local papers as being of the
first class. It should have been "of the second class."

Captain the Hon. 3. R. Drummond, C.B, has been
appointed private secretary to Sir Charles Wood, first
lord of the admiralty, in- the room of Mr. T. G. Baring,
21. P resigned.

It is confidently rumoured in professional circles (says
the . United Service Gazette) that the appointment of com-
mander-in-chief at Devonport, in succession to Admiral
Sir William Parker, has been offered to Vice Admiral Sir
Charles Napier. Should this prove correct the gallant
officer, should he accept the appointment, will be under
the necessity of relinquishing his seat for Southwark.
SIR ROB= PEEL AT •BL 00. Thursday
evening the annual soiree of the members and friends cif
the Blackburn Mechanics' Institution was held in the
large room of the Town Hall. The room was well filled,
and Sir R. Peel, Bart., occupied the chair. Amongst
those upon the platform were Mr. J. Pilkington, M.P., Mr.
W. Hornby, M.P, Mr W Pilkington, the Mayor, Mr.
Jonathan Peel, Mr J Fie den Mr J C Ainsworth, &a.,
About 600 sat down to tea. Sir R. Peel on rising was
loudly cheered. In the course of his speech he said :
Let them hope that Russia and England would now no longer
be harraiiiing each other by the appliances of war, but turn
their attention to the progress and advancement of civilisa-
tion. (Applause.) The moment peace was signed Came
out the scheme for Russian railways. He did not mean
to say that was a good scheme.; but it ehowed the desire
that immediately embraced the public mind for promoting
material civilisation. He thon,ght that there could not be
a worse scheme for the British public than the Russian
railway's. (Hear, hear.) They were only to cost
£45,000,000 sterling, and John Bull was told that he would
have a guarantee of five or six per cent. —which was very
kind of Russia, seeing that we could have the same in
England. But he believed the object in view was the
military organisation of that couairy, and not the pro-
motion of commercial progress. (Applause.)