The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-01-05 00:00:00

SAFFRON WALDEN BANK.

Messrs. Searle an I Co., of Saffron Walden, have resumed
payments, beginning with their one-pound notes. Mr.
Crickitt has withdrawn his name from the bank at Col-
chester, which however continues its business.—Bury Gaz.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.

Ste,-01iliged as I am by your notice of my letter in
you paper of the 23d ult., which I flatter myself has already
produced some public benefit, and is daily likely to produce
more, in proportion as the importance of this subject is
considered by thosa who, being the best judges of the
practice of the Insolvent Debtors' Court, can the more
readily apply the remedy to abuses inseparable from the
formation of this peculiar Court ; yet I cannot but un-
feignedly regret no abler person has been long since in-
duced to treat upon the powers of the Court itself and its
Commissioners (hitherto so little understood) in the practice
of the Attorneys, or, more correctly speaking, their agents,
in the manner and to the extent which the welfare of the
great mass of insolvent debtors, their connexions, and the
interests of the profession, appears to the eye of the
practicer so forcibly to require. For though, perhaps, in
furtherance of some humble effort of my own, the Com-
missioners have since not only given renewed publicity to
their order of the Ist of February, NV, and suspended
1:1 of their Attorneys, for not having taken out their cetti-
ficates, yet, from some unaccountable oversight, they have
not directed their attention to the dates of certificates issued
subsequent to the 16th December, considering that At-
torneys neglecting to take out a certificate for one year
must, by the 37th Geo. 111, c. 90, be re-admitted, as well
as pay up all their arrests of duty, &c. before they can
again practise, and some Attorneys have presumed to act in
the meantime. From the expense, delay, and difficulty of
getting re-admitted at all, it is to be feared several instances
are easily to be found (one in particular, of great extent,
is within my own knowledge) of Attorneys practising
publicly without certificates. Indeed there are not want-
, ing persons (acquainted with the fact) who conclude that
because such Attorneys are neither suspended, nor even no-
ticed, that the Commissioners have considered the produc-
tion of any catificate,however late it may be dated,as a sanc-
tion for any proceedings done (before or after) during the
year; and however ridiculous such a construction may
• appt ar to professional men, it has hal an astonishing effect
lupon the minds of prisoners and their friends, anteing
whom the late suspension of Attorneys by the Commis-
! sionere is a subject of daily conversation ; all which could
• never have existed, and with them many of the most glaring
abuses of practice, had the rttles of the Court prescribed
, the necessity of every Attorney producing and entering in
! a book to be kept for that purpose, at the public office, for
general inspection, as well his orieinal admission in the
Soperier, his admission In this Court, together With his
annual certificate, its date, &c. if to this entry could
be added the christian and surname of the Attorney's
clerk, employed strictly in that capacity within his master's
office, it would lay an unerring foundation for a well-di-
gested train of regulations, by which a stop might be put
to the practice of agents and others, many of whom pub-
licly conduct the business of prisoners at their own homes,
I and in rooms within the prisons as offices, quite distinct
from the Attorney. With an apology for this intrusion,
I am, Sir, your very obedient servant.
A PRACTITIONER.