The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

LONDON COURT OP BANKRUPTCY.

1M THE MATTEIt OT A PETITION FOR ARRANC4E/dENT.—
" WHAT is £2OO ?"—A petition had been presented by a
trader, Met' the 211th Section, with a view to an arrane-
ment under the 'control of -the court. That and the
following section require that the petition shall be in a
certain form, and shall be aacompanied by an affidavit
(contained id brie Orthe schedules of the act) as follows:
" That the several allegations iri the said petition are true,
and that he, this deponent, bath assets ready to be pro-
duced to this hetiourable court to the :Value of af2oo and
upwards." do this being-43w, the court is empowered
to-grant protection from arrest. His lidticiur enquired if
the money had been paid into the hands Of the official
assignee ? Mr. Chidley, who appeared in support of the
petition, said it had net: The assets of the Petitioner
consisted of Stock iti trade and, household furniture, of a
much greater value than the sum named in the affidavit.
and he was willing that the messenger of the court should
infociediately take possession. The Commissioner : I must
decline to give preletticm until I see that the petitioner
has £2OO ready to produce: t can imagine a case so
clear from donbt.that I. might grant protedticin without
the money being actually paid into court; bat the
general rule with me is to require the money to be .pro-
, duced. One reason, among many, for doing so is this : If
.the matter is turned into bankruptcy there is then a fund,
in court ; otherwise it might happen. as it does in nine
cases out of ten,,that all this money might take its flight,
for the debtor has unlimited control over it. Wnat is
there to prevent this man ordering a cab at four o'clock
tomorrow morninsi, and going off with all this property ?
Nothing. He may take away everything he has ; and he
may even do it in the presence of his creditors, so long as
he gets protection. Mr. Chidley : Though I cannot quite
agree with your Honour's reasons, I feel it is necessary,
in such cases as these, that the fullest proofs should be
given of the existence of assets to the required amount,
and wherever I can I adopt that course of proceeding
which your Honour requires. I find it much more easy
in every stage of the proceeding. The Commissioner : It
may not be so easy or so convenient for the debtor, but it.
is much:more so for the purposes of justice. Mr. Chidley
But I am afraid, if your Honour's rule were generally
insisted upon, that a trader could never petition the
court under the arrangement clauses unless he came with
£2OO in his hand, either in bank notes or sovereigns. He
would do this, and we should never get a statement of.
what property he really had ; he would confine
himself to saying, "My assets are £2OO in bank
notes, which I have handed to the ofilicial assignee"
The' Commissioner : No, no. He must file accounts.
And the deposit of this money is a good check.
Mr. Chidley: It is certainly substantial bail. The Com-
missioner : It is only for 21 days. Mr. Chidley : The
debtor is quite willing that the messenger should take
possession this afternoon. Mr. Watson, the accountant,
stated that he had gone over the property with an
auctioneer, and it was worth at least £5OO. The Commis-
sioner : I am afraid I cannot depart from the mule I have
laid down. I will draw the order, and state my view of the
act of paeliament ; then you can take it, as I really wish
you would, before the higher authority to know whether 1
am right or wrong. Mr. Chidley; Will the court do this
under the peculiar circumstances ? The higher court is
not now sitting, or I would at once adopt your Honour's
suggestion. In the meantime the debtor is deprived of that
which the act of Parliament certainly seems to give him.
The 211th section says that " the court, on such petition,
shall have power to grant such prOtection; " and the con-
dition as to the amount of assets is only found in the
schedule. The Commissioner : 'lf he has £2OO ready to be
produced, let us see it. Mr. Chidley : I was going to
suggest that your Honour should give him protection for
fourteen days, at the end of that time I shall be able to
adopt your Honour's suggestion as to an appeal. lii the
meantime let the messenger go into possession, which will
involve an expense of perhaps £6. The Commissioner :
More; £lO at least. Mr. Chidley: I hope the creditors
would not object to that, in order to comply with the
reasonable request of the court. The Commissioner : If
his only object is to protect the property, why not sign a
declaration of insolvency. Mr. Chidley : I have over and
over again expressed the opinion that it Would be better
if these " arrangement clauses " were struck out of the
act altogether ; but so long as they are here, one has a
right to ask that the law ,should be administered. The
Commissioner : I am very sorry I cannot do it, Mr. Chid-
ley. Mr. Chidley : Then I would ask your Honour's
sanction to this—that the official assignee may have
authority to proceed at once to a sale of so much of the
property as will be sufficient to produce in money £2OO.
We have not the slightest objection to the official assignee
taking steps this afternoon to do that. The Commissioner:
But you will have protection first. Mr. Chidley : And
with the protection I should ask that the officer of the
court should go into possession at once. The household
furniture, I am told, is worth) more than £250. The
Commissioner : No ; I cannot do it. Mr. Chidley : The
question is whether an execution is to go into the house
to-morrow, to the injury of all the other creditors. The
Commissioner : Not at all. I have told von how to pre—
vent teat. me matter then cropped.