Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-21 00:00:00

MANCHESTER BANKRUPTCY COURT.

(Before Mr. Commissioner Jemmett.)
"ZbSUSPENSION OF DEMETRIADI'S CERTIFICATE.
• Re DEMETRIUS PIETRO DEMETRIADI, MERCHANT,
MANCHESTER. Wednesday wss appointed for the
Commissioner's judgment on the question of certificate.
—Mr. Worthington appeared for the assignees and
creditors, and Mr. Cobbett for the bankrupt.----Tho
Commissioner said : . •

" This bankrupt commenced business in Manchester
in the year 1854, as the buying partner in a mercantile
firm at Constantinople, consisting of himsolf, his
father, a brother, and a brother-in-law. His duty
was limited to making purchases of goods in Man-
chester for sale in Constantinople, and he was to
debit the firm with the invoiced prices of the goods,.
adding his commission, shipping charges, and interest at
six per cent. The business was thus conducted until
the year 18.56, when the bankrupt became acquainted
with a person named James Hiller, a commission agent
in Manchester, and from that period he commenced a
series of accommodation bills with him and other per-
sons, amounting in 1858, by his own confession, to
£36,897. During the last six months of that year, he
was-engaged in various unsuccessful schemes, until he
became utterly insolvent. On the 4th of January last
he was adjudged a bankrupt ; and, having now passed
his last examination, applies for his certificate, the grant-
ing of which is opposed by his assignees. It is unneces-
sary for me to go through the details of the many exa-
minations which have taken place in this bankruptcy ;
it will be sufficient to point out the specific
charges of fraud brought against the bankrupt by the
assignees and separate creditors. The charges brought
by the assignees are reckless trading, excess of accom-
modation bills, buying goods on credit, and on pretence
of exportation, and selling them immediately (through'
the agency of Hiller) at reduced prices, for the purpose
of raising money ; tampering with accounts, in order
to deceive his creditors ; concealing 'from the know-
ledge of his creditors, when called .together, :several
good bills, which were subsequently paid, to the
amount of £1,856, and altering and destroying other
bills on which his father-in-law would have been
liable, to the amount of £2,600 ; all these transactions,
took place within six months• of the bankruptcy, an'
have been proved by oral and documentary evidence"
beyond dispute. The separate creditors who oppose the
certificate, and have given evidence against the bankrupt,
are Mr. Standring, Mr. Woodhouse, and Mr. Harwood.
Mr. Standring has stated that the first lot of goods b,e'
sold to the bankrupt consisted of 1,000 pieces at 3s. 4d.
per piece, which were immediately sent by the bankrupt'i
to Hiller, and sold by him at 2s. 11d. per piece; and
that on the 14th December, 1858, he 501d.400 pieces a;
ss.' which the next day were sent to Hiller, and 'sold
by him at 4s. 4d. per piece. Mr. Woodhouse stated
that on the 23rd of November the bankrupt purchased
of him 403 pieces of red prints at Bs. 9d. per piece,
which were re-sold by Hiller, at 7s. per piece ; and oa
the 25th of November he bought 388 pieces of pad;
ground prints at 7s. 6d. per piece, which were re-sola
by Hiller at 6s. 4d. per piece. Mr. Harwood stated that
he sold to the bankrupt a quantity of satteens at I:
`same yard, which were resold on the 'sae day to
Miniati and Co. at 61d. per yard. And in addition to
these specific statements, is the evidence given by
Cooper (one of the bankrupt's clerks), that goods were
were purchased, some a day or two after, that they
constantly sent :to Hiller, some on the same day the,'
generally sent between seven
.and nine in the evening,
and were ordered not to be sent in the day time. Thus
there can be no doubt as to the misconduct of the,baak" •
rupt. He has been guilty of many frauds against the
mercantile community, and is deserving of severe pow-
ishment ; and the only question is, what the pull"
ishment ought to be. The assignees and creditors
have contended for an absolute refusal Al the
certificate, without protection. I have taken' time,„""
consider the matter, and after much thought, I rein
of the opinion I have ever held, that' under: the pr°""
sions of the present bankrupt law, a total refusal, without,_
protection, is too severe a punishment' for 'mercantile
delinquencies of this kind: I believe the effect of such -
a punishment is scarmly'understood or felt by those rho.
are principally interested in the' maintenance of this Pt;
of the law. I will, therefore, take, tile pregent'opp-ortulawk
co,
of stating my views on the subject. Under the press
law, as soon as a certificate is either refused or sns"
proved
pended without protection, every creditor who has plc,
a debt to the amount of £lO, becomes instanter a judg-
ment creditor, with power to issue immediate execu-
tion, and without any preliminary proceeding, without ,
notice, without trial, and without a verdict, may cast
the bankrupt into prison, whence he cannot be ais;
charged within the space of one whole year, colt
ivere
under special circumstances, byorder of the court, Ifis
the difference between a suspension for a toga ee, rtt3hie
ana a total refusal or tne certificate is very great ; e
duringcase of a suspension the time is limited by the sentole
of the court, which the creditor is to exel:ctibe .
his power over his debtor ; but not so where
refusal is absolute, for in that case there is no limit
of time. A creditor may seize his debtor at any mon°
and at any period of his life, and all the crediter 6
„,
in succession may do so ; and whatever may be the dif
position of the bankrupt, he can never apply hinased
to any mode of gaining a livelihood for himself, an ;
perhaps, for a family, without the daily chance of sucicleot
arrest and imprisonment, the effect of which is 11,.0
uufrequently a sentence of perpetual banishment ft`'ed
the country. This, I think,
who
are the rare
positions, qualities, and circumstances of those ",
are subject to the operation of the bankrupt lare
is too severe a punishment, and ought to undergo .ou",,i
modification. In reverting, however, to the case 11°:,
before me, I have no hesitation in declaring that tya'
bankrupt has • been guilty of all the offences chalq,eg
against him ; and I feel bound, in justice to the tract'
re
community, and particularly to those creditors who
sufferers by his conduct, to pass a sentence which lll3O
reason to believe will, ere long, be the severest sentence
which the court will have power to inflict, viz., that ,he
bankrupt's certificate be suspended for the space ofe
years, and then to be of the third class, and I shall ref
protection in the meanwhile, thereby leaving the !Aviv" •
for that period in the hands of his creditors.

jab
DEATH FROM PASSION.—On Tuesday mornin....P,ter,
Yeudall, aged 58 years, the toll collector atbige"-
Hallam, was taking toll for 'some wild beast ear3s4o.ot
and having a dispute with one of the drivers, be "git
into a violent passion. On going into the house he thy
down in a chair, and was noticed to froth at the niej
and, though medical assistance was called in, he di"' re
a few minutes afterwards. He had for some time bef°kl
been under treatment for disease of the heart. —She
Telegraph.
Now ready, price 6d., CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED
for 1860, containin upwards of Thirty beautiful Engran7. of
including Illustrations of Twelve of the Principal Ev,e:0011
the past year. The Literary Matter embraces the folst,a,c;
subjects :—Eclipses ; Calendar for the Year, with cliroin.,7o,.
Festivals, &c. ; Gardening for each month ; List of IN„-toe
Bankers •, Postal Regulations ; List of the Principal Eve'et;
1859 ; Obituary of Eminent Persons ; New Acts of Paris
Statistics; Stamps and Taxes; Exhibitions; Important _es;
mation for Emigrants; Complete List of the New Parlin%,4l
Government Offices, &c., &c. The extraordinary poPti in
which CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED ALMANACK has obtainviSo'
former years, and which has resulted in a circulation 600
gether unprecedented with this class of publications, Pi' or
the Publishers in preparing a very large issue ; but aced in •
siderable difficulty has more than once been experie%entlf
supplying the demand, and disappointment has congeq non,
ensued, orders are requested to be given forthwith.
E.C. : Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, and all Booksellers7....ooo

BIRTH. tge
On the 18th instant, at the Carrs' Kirkham, Lancashire'
wife of the Rev. S. E. Wentworth, M.A., of a son.
MARRIAGES.
On the 16th instant, at St. Michael's Church, Mr. J•
Perß
son to Miss Mary Lyon.
On the 18th instant, at the parish church of St. Ma VW:
lington, by the Rev. A. Stanham, 8.A., Henry Edv/. „1,0020"
thew, Esq., of Mobile, to Hannah, second daughter of
Lovering, Esq., of London. Pf •
Rev. James Dixon, late of anchester.
KeOnndrithcek,lBEtshill ofta nßti,isattoMn
Price Sharp, 8.A., curate of Hawton, Notts, and 60118051!
,anninto
Annghaam,A.Jtaarimae,s,daeludgebsttesren of° the,
On the 18th instant, at FarndMon, n ear Newark, the ItVille
late John Sharp, Esq., of Barnficld, near Manchester..;,'hole•
Jane, third daughter of the late Rev. J. Entwistle o
Hutchinson, M.A., vicar of East Stoke, Notts.
DEATHS.
a filicitart.
On the 14th instant, at Madrid, in his 29th year,
illness, Mark Waring, Esq., Chevalier of the Order of "Jo.ire'
fourth son of John Waring', Esq., of Haworth Hall. jolt'
On the 15th instant, at Norwieh, aged 50 years, ileu're year
son of the late Henry John Barker, Esq., of ThorP
that city, lieutenant sth Royal Lancashire Militia. coo'
On the 16th instant, at the residence of her brothei:!..o,oll:
Cheshire, aged 52 years, 11,fissRamsbottom, late of Tear, after
On the 19th instant, at Oakville, the Park, Birkeny..noti,,i
a lingering illness, Susan, eldest daughter of Joseph
band, late of Ellerslie, in the county of Cumberland, •'"'
19 years.

Printfor the Proprietor, by WILLIAM GMIPFM.,°VsoO C,
ed
Brownlow-street, in the Parish of Liverpool, an" Vvert°l3.
SUMNER MCGHIfi, of No. St. Chrvsostorn-street, J-• the
in the Parish of West Derby, at 40, Leigh-Strest, ifnotb
Parish of Liverpool, and" Published by them at IU, '-
John-street, in the aforesaid Parish r,Liverpool.
OCTOBER 21, 1859.