The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-20 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY DISCLOSURES BY _et BOLTON

BANKRUPT.

On Friday last, at the County Court, Bolton, a, case of
the utmost importance• came on for hearing before a special
jury. The plaintiffs were. Mr. John: Fraser, official assignee,
and 'Mr.' Richard Moxon, trade assignee to John Cross, a
bankrupts formerly occupier of the Black horse public house,
Black Horse street, Bolton; and •the defendant was William
Rainford, a bailiff of the County Court at, Preston. and an
auctioneer in that town. The amount sued for was £5O.
John Cross, in.the latter end of 1855, kept the ;Black Horse
public house. At this time he was in embarrassed circum-
stance, and owing something like .£5OO. The hulk of that sem
being owing to a few creditors, emits was under pressure at
the time, writs having been issued against him ; and instead
of calling his creditors together, Unfortunately both for ,himielf
and his creditors, he had sought the adviceuf perscins which lcd
him to the bankruptcy court in JmuarylBsB, at the instance of
Mr. IVloxon, of Pontefract,. .maltster, who, when Cross was
adjudicated a bankrupt, was appointed trade assignee. During
the time the bankruptcy proceedings were pending, discoviriei
were made, which resulted in a prosecution against the bank-
rupt and a.man named Leyland for conspiracy, and at the
March assizes in last year they were each ifotind guilty, and
sentenced each tat four months irnprisonMerit. The inquiry
during tha. incarceration of these two, men t was proceeded
with, and *as then discovered theta largd amount of the
assets of' the bankrupt had -not been accdunted for. It turned
out that the defendanywithin, a short time and_pievious to the
bankruptcy of. Cross, had .purehase,d, from the bankrupt in
Bolton a large quantity of property for a sum of £75, which
Was not more than one half the_value. It; would, therefore,
be for the jury :to say whether such was not a fraud, and
therefore entirely. void as againstthe interests of the creditors.
On the 26th :December, 1855, the d fendarit' went over to
Bolton, and went to Cross's house, and asked hieg what he
had to sell,. knowing-at .time that Cross was in difficulties.
bCorposs:s to I
Ad h i d
was bargainsom e
doel a
fnodrs gt
wi no, wine,,bsesorfandgyi;f9
andr
£4, cost £5l ' two pockets of hops for £lO, Cost
£18;15s ; :two Casks of wine for. £24; 6ost,abotit £B5 ;• a cask
of brandy 'for £25, cost E 42 193 ; and 'a cask of Jersey brandy,
412. cost £22 12s; making a 'total alnOunt 'Of difference
between the cost price and that for Which! the:), were sod to
the defendant Of £59 43. The ;defendant' place 4 these sums
on a paper as the ' value of the goods. Mr.' Plant, at • the
conclusien of Mr.- Richardson's opening ad Tress, teak objection
to this court hiving jurisdiction, as the.cause of action had not
arisen in Bolton, the goods being delivered in Preston, as-the
carter who, conveyed them was engaged by Cross, and •the
contract was not complete before their delivery at Preston.• A
long discussion took place :uPon the legal points in this •case,
the jiidge"reserving his decision until' after the evidence had
been'heard. The facts above stated having been proved in
evidence by Cross, Leyland, Wood, and Senior, Mr. Plant,
for. the defence,' Urged •that the case rested solely on the evi-
dence of 'Men 'who had been eonVicied of a conspiracy to
defratid, for which they, had. Veen imprisoned ; therefore, be
called' upon the jury to disbelieve them. 'lWitnesses having
bedn called foe the defence, Mr. Richirdson replied upon the
whold case; and 'the jury-, after half an hour'S 'deliberation,
returned a verdict • for the full amotint klaimed, £5O, with
- r•-•
costs.' . r. 11

""F4TRAoRDINARY SUICIDE.—Mr. Isatitc Clter Curtiss,' of
StJohn's Wood, formerly of independen ,ran :;it is believed,
wealthy circumstances, who was for -manS, years a member
of the representative vestry and a guardian of St. Meryl&
borne, hanged hiinself on 'Friday with his handkerchief 'oh
a gate post in a field near Itanipstead., Ms. motive for
killing ymplf seems uncertain.
ANOTIii,ER FALL OF A HOME IN LONDON. -0n Saturday
afternoon, about 1 o'clock; the inhabitants of Shoredirch
were suddenly thrown into a state of great arm in conk-
queuce, Of the fall of la ;large buil ling, itiNo. 61 flolyvielk
Latie,'near the terininte of the Eastern Coin:qies 'Railway
station, Shoreditch. It appears that the house had been in
the ,Occupation of Mrs. Solomon, but she had left the 'place
'through ;due notice from the autliorities.of the district, and
the worktnen had been set to work tO erect a scaffold' in
front of the house. The men bad gone .to dinner, and were
just abinitto return to their duties when the whole bhilding
fell with a tremendous crash, with the rafters and brick
work, which fell into the sq,?et, and to the imsementloor.
It was a miracle that no persons were injured, although a
great nambeir of individuals were passing at the moment.
The front of the building fell against the opposite dwellings,
and considerable daniage was thereby wiped.

Sp. (encouragingly) Very well ; now answer me a few
questions. The sums you have found are the property values
of £l5O per annum ?
Ch. of Ex. : Yes ; the amount which would be realised in
the market.

Sp. : Exactly ; whether realised by actual sale or found by
calculation; the sums you have given represent the propsrty
values.

Ch. of Ex.: Yes; the property value of £l5O per annum
for dire,: years is '£4l6, and for fifzeen years the value is
£1,667, and in perpetuity it is worth £3,750.
Sp. (angrily) : And yet you levy on all three the same sum
annually, notwithstanding the difference in value to the
possessors.
Ch. of Ex. : How so ?
Sp. : What tax do you levy on an income of £l5O per
annum ?

Ch. of Ex.: £lO, being is 4d in the pound.
S. : Just so. You make a property worth £416 pay 10,
and another worth £1,667 pay £lO, and another worth £3,750
pay £lO, is this what you call equitable taxation ? Can you
work a common proportion ?
Ch. of Ex.: Yes.
Sp.: Then furnish me with the resul.s of tl:o following
proportions :
If £416 pays £lO, what is that per cent P
It £667 pays £lO, what is that per cent ?
If £9OO pays £lO, what is that per cent ?
If £1,216 pays £lO, what is that per cent ?
If £1,667 pays £lO, what is that per cent
If £2,038 pays £lO, what is that per cent ?
If £2,228 pays £lO, what is that per cent ?
If £2,593 pays £lO, what is that per edit ?
If £3,222 pays £lO, what is that Pt r cent ?
If £3,750 pays £lO, what is that leer cent ?
Chancellor of the xchequer (having, after a considerable

length of times vvorkel out proportions) : Here are the several,'
results:—

s. d.
A with 416 pays at the rate of 2 8 0 per cept.
B with 667 pays at the rate of I 9 11 per cent.
C with 900 pays at the rate of 1 2 2 per cent.
1) with 1216 pays at the rate of 0 16 5 per Cent.
E with 1667 pays at the rate of 0 11 11 per cent.
F with 2031 pays at the rate of 0 9 9 per cent.
G with 2228 plys at the rate of 0 8 11 per cent.
H with 2593 pays at the rate of 0 7 8 per cent.
I with 3222 pays at the rate of 0 6 2 per cent.
K with 3750 pays at the rate of 0 5 4 per cent.

Sp.: Now, Sir, you see the operation of your tax. Pro.,
petty worth £416, say, the tail of a lease, the end of a life'
interest, the remnant of professional capacity, the Long.
Annuities, which expire in 1830, and a thousand other brief
and precarious incomes, you tax at the enormous rate of £2 85'1
per cent on their property value, while your consols, exche-'
quer bills, and other property in absolute possession, upon'
which you may realize to-morrow the full value of the perpe
tuity, you tax only at the rate of 5s 4d per cent.
Ch. of Ex (submissively) : That is so, Sir.
Sp : And you think this a near approach to absolute
equality, do you? to assume, first, that a man's brain is so
much property, and bringing it to a money value, to tax
£4OO of that value as though it were £4OOO stock or laud ;
imposing upon one man 48s. per cent, property tax, and upon
another .ss. 31. per cent, only. Again, you think it fair to,
tax tile long annuitant, whpse income expii es in 1860, and.'
wh ,se property sells now for £416, according to your owns
calculation, at the rate of 481. per cent. on the value, while'
you impose on the owner of annuities expiring in 1830'
(twenty-three years hence) a tax at tho rate of Bs. 11d, per
cent., and on the owner of consols, whose property will reallze.
to day £3,750, just ss. 4d. per cent.
Ch. of Ex.: 1. fear the tax cannot be justified on the ground
of equality.
Sp. (with dignity) : I should think not, indeed. Accepts
Sir, and profit by this definition of your tax ;—An income
tax, levied as at present, is a graduated property tax, the
gradation of taxation being so contrived as to fall with
crashing weight on the shoulders of industry, to the relief
of accumulated wealth. In addition to this definition, I
furnish you with a scale which I have prepared, to inform
all classes lat what rates the tax falls upon them (see
Tables pp. 13 and 14).
Ch. of Ex.: Pray, Sir, do not publish your scale until I
have devised some tax as a substitute. Consider the
difficulty of my position, the maintenance of the credit of
the State, its honour at home and abroad, its dig—
Sp. (impatiently): Fudge 1 How can the credit anti
honour of any country be maintained by injustice an,,
oppression ? " Righteousness (equity) exalteth a nation.
—so we read. Levy your tales fairly:. and the honour and
credit of the country will take are of Lhemselves.
Ch. of Er.: True, Sir ; but I was a..''eut,
interrupted me, to remind you of the claim of .' when yea
the public
creditor. Can you add to the obligations at.-eady con.
ferred on me, by suggesting a tax as a substitutt:
which, I suppose, I must relinquish ? for that
Sp.: Before doing so, I must inform you that we
enjoy clearer views of things. than we did while lookine:
through mortal eyes, and we do not perceive any occasion
at all for providing a tax as a substitute. To me it is
quite apparent that a proper s epresentation of the tax'
paying people, due attention to the voting of supplieS
(which is now a farce), together with the very simple.
expedient of the publication of a detailed statement of
the national receipt and expenditure, would obviate any
occasion for substituted taxation.

Ch. of Ex. (exhibiting extreme agitation)—Surely,
you would not advocate so imprudent a measure as the
publication of the details of the expenditure of the several,
departments ?
Sp.: Indeed, Ido advocate it. You have required it Of
the Poor Law Unions, have you not ?
Ch. of Ex. ; Yes.
' Sp.; And of the Municipal Corporations, the Savinas
Banks, the Prison, the Police, the County Courts, the
Court of Chancery, ect.?
Ch. of Ex.: Very true ; but consider the different
nature of their expenditure. You would not expose to
the impertinent curiosity of the public gaze the amount
received by this or that official, disclosing the secrets of
the various departments ? It would be striking a blow tit
the roots of our political institutions.
Sp.: I know it would, and shall take steps for promal'
gating my views on the subject.
Ch. of Ex. (in extremity of his agitation forgetting the.
spiritual nature of his visitant): I pray you, good Sir, do
not act with precipitation in this matter; I will speak to
Lord P n, a place at the Treasury Board could not
be more worthily occupied than by yourself. But stop---
a vacant Garter is at his disposal, and would doubtless
be offered for your acceptance.
Sp. (interrupting, with a hearty laugh): A. garter! ha/
can a spirits leg be invested with a garter ?
Ch. of Ex. (awaking to a sense of his position) : True,
forgot myself for a moment ; a dignity of that kind would
be somewhat out of place. _ _

Sp.: Of course it would. Such things possess no value.
in the spirit world; from the order of the Seraphim 01
Sweden down to the .Garter of Great Britain, all Duch
decorations are alike worthless.
Ch. of Ex.: Assuming, however, that a tax by way of
substitute should be required, what tax do you recoar
mend?

Sp.: A property tax.
Ch. of Ex.: But have you not demonstrated the
difficulty of levying such a tax fairly ?
Sp.: Not at all. I require you to demonstrate that youri
income tax was, in one sense, a property tax ; not an egtoy
tax on the value of property, but a graduated sliding.scale
property tax—the graduation of the taxation being in
ratio inverse to the amount of the property. Contbandinlb
the produce of skill and labour with the interest arising
from realised property, and then ignoring all those
differences in the value of property arising from the
duration of the income taxed, I endeavoured to convince
you that your tax was a masterpiece of injustice. Willy,
I now propose as a property tax is a very different thingl
by that term I mean an: equal tax on the value of at''
realisable propertyin the country, so that if £lOO shall Of
.e I, then £l,OOO will pay £lO, and £lO,OOO will pay .€lOO.
This tax being levied upon fair principles, there could be no
difficulty in making all contribute ; whereas you nos/
exempt a large proportion of the property of the country',
viz , that which belongs to owners of property up to about
£3,000 in value, while you inflict the tax in its most
oppressive form upon men living by labour of hand or
brain, and who have not £lO worth of property in the
world.

Ch. of Ex : But such a tax will drive property from
the country.
Sp.: It cannot drive away the land, or houses, or fac-
tories, or funds, or mines, or railways ; such fears are
altogether delusive. Let me ask, however, have you a°
fears lest British industry, skill, and enterprise should
seek more congenial treatment than they receive under
your paternal management,? What would be the value
of land, where would the wealth of England be, or hO/1
would you raise your taxes if British skill and enterprise
should make themselves wings and fly away ?
**** * , * *

[The cock crows, the Shade of Cocker melts away;
the Chancellor is discovered at daylight seated at big
bureau, a trace of sadness on his brow, but a wiser man.]

EXPERIMENTS WITH .WOODCOCK'S PATENT

SMOKE CONS UMER.

The subject of smoke consumption is daily forcing itself
upon public attention, and the matter very properly loses
nothing in urgency from the fact that the means of acconi"
plisbing the object begin to be more apparent. Amongst
the various methods adopted, that patented by Mr. W.
Woodcock, of London, was on Friday submitted to the tees
of experiment at the establishment of Messrs. Westhead
and Co., Brook-street. - Mr. Councillor Bowker, chairman
of the nuisance committee, Mr. Councillor J. Lamb, Alr'
Fox, the nuisance inspector, Mr. William Morris, and
several other gentlemen witnessed the trial, which WO
purposely made a severe one. The steam was allowed 10
subside considerably below the ordinary pressure, in order
that the fires might be supplied with coal more freely, and
also to show whether, and in what proportion, an increase
of steam could be generated. When the steam was reduced
to thirty lb. pre-sure, coals were supplied liberally, and i 0
seven minutes the steam guage indicated thirty-five lbs, the
smoke during this period being simply of a vaporous trans"
parent character. There were two sixty horse boilers is
use, each having two flues and furnaces. The usual plan
was to coal the furnaces under either boiler alternately, but
in this instance it was done simultaneously, vet the smoke
was so trivial that the observers expressed themselves fell
satisfied with the result. In a second trial the steam Wes
raised to a high pressure more rapidly, the smoke still being
suppressed. The plan has been tried for several months in
connection with one of the boilers, and with such sati,fae•
tion that two others have now been similarly treated. The
method adopted by Mr. Woodcock (with whom is associated
Mr. Lloyds Williams) consists in the admission of heated
air, to promote combustion, at a point where an inverted
bridge forces the unconsurned smoke down upon the red
fire, The smoke is thus brought into cmtact with the fire,
and supplied with the requisite amount of oxygen (in II
heated scat.) to facilitate its combustion. The precise
arrangement varies with the length of the boiler and ethet
circumstances, sometimes an extra inverted bridge (iroe
pla,e fixed to the top of the flue) being attached. The heated
air is introduced through a sort of hollow bridge, the front
of which is of brick, and the back of plate iron, perforeted.
The supply reaches' it either under the furnace, in the ordi-
nary way, or through a tube on either side the furnace'
The same plan was also seen on Friday in operation by oaf
reporter, at the engine house of the large warehouse 0f
e,,s-e. J. Rylands and Sons, New High street. Sawdust
and other materials werr thrown upon the furnace, and
dense smoke produced, but it was so effectually consumed
bebied the perforated bridge, that the top of the chininel
scarcely indicated the existence of a fire. Mr. Woodcock, el
plan, we hear, is in operation in many breweries and other
,
establishments in London ; also in Leicester, Sheffiel"
Leeds, Halifax, and Bradford.—Manchester Examiner.