The National Register.
London, England, 1819-03-15 00:00:00

NIA RLBOROI3GI-1 STREET.

A Beadle ostiwitted,lohn Kendrick, a beadle of St.
Giles's in the Fields, brought to this office a gentleman
charged with riding oneof Johnson's hobby-horses along
the footway pavement of Great Queen-street, in the said
parish. The gentleman was convicted in the penalty
of :1. under the Metropolis Paving Act. The gentleman
then laid an information against Kendrick, for running
the same through Queen's-court, (a paved one) in the
said parish, on the way to the watch-house, which was
proved by a witness.—We need not inform our readers
that he was himself likewise very justly convicted in the
penalty of 'A which he was informed by_ the worthy
Magistrate (Mr. Farrant) he must pay, amidst the laugh-
ter of a very crowded office.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' ACT.

[From The Nuns** Ceuricr.]

On Tuesda list, a Meeting ViilS held at the Ilan in the
Nisteket, to petiti ssss Yarliuroei.t 1111 the sOject f the Instil-
vent Dehtnit. Act.

A Iderismo Brutette was called to the Chair, also opened
the business, by stating, that the grievance under which
t e mercantile and trading part of the continuality laboured.
in contequente of the present lieolvent Debtors' Acts, had
led to the prerett Meeting, and that it seemed to be the
Insist proper time note to address th•r Legislature on the sub.
km, at the term fur which those Acts had passed is a. draw-
lug to a cline.
Alderman ifackes said, be believed the Chairman was In
porrierrion of a Petition, which hr requested be would read.
The Chairman having read for Petition,
Alderman Ilosekes said, that though he approved of many
parts of it, he thotri;lit its language was scarcely strong
enough to be addrerssd to the llouse on the present occasion.
He should, therefore, request Mr. Adam Taylor to read one,
r-U-Mrise be thought would more fully embrace the object of
the Meeting.
Mr. A. Taylor having read it,
Mr. E. 7 eyler taid, he rose to give the measure his cor-
dial summit. There was DO doubt but the Legislate re, in
pa. lug Acts fur the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, had been
actuated by motives of bumunity.; and as comparatively
few Nlendwrs, eten of the Lower House, were practically
conversaut w its mercantile transactions, it wa► not to be
w lewd at that they had been led by their feelings to
adiord. what they regarded as a nece.ary protection fur the
unfrottunate debtor. against the cruelty and hard-hearted-
ness of obstinate and mercile4 t reditiors ; but the practical
operation of this d law had been to ntiord a legal
sanction to a flab of pm sons of the most ss ors hies. de.crip-
tion. Every man at all estetsisely concerned in trade,
knew that creditors in g.•uetal were very far from being
men II t that %Iwo au honest disposition was evinced 1011
the part of it debtor, it would be difficult iudet•d to she w au
instance in which it had not been met by a corresponding
lenity on the part of his creditors. He believed, %here one
instance of a merciless creditor existed, there would lw
found to be an hundred fraudulent debtors: yet for these
persons the law had interpinsed ; for a hawser might be the
iutention of its fi :sneers. the practical effect was to deprive
creditors of their just demands. Under the commission sit-
ting in London to esecute the Acts. cases involi mg pro-
perty to the amount of more than a million of music)
beets disposed uf, while the average dividend for the co 4.4 km,
had not e►ceeded a Nothing In the pound: and he he•
lieved, that uf all she dibtors who toad been liberated under
the As t in the Como of Norfolk and the City of Norwich,
'Whir% h,,d in any case been leceived by the creditors. It
was therefore clear, that it' the iori,;in of such an Act was
hansguity, the elk:Li was injustice. It bad been attempted

.••

to reti.r and amend the 14.1 Art; ■nd we were led to cx.
pect, that thr obnoxllMS parts which it contaiord would be
awe drd, but no chaage to any. extent had taken place—
the cave s%.leni of fiatid avid priory Wl.lll 1111. ai.d he irared
that nothing short of a total t biotite %%odd produce Wlbclr. t
protectioni to the fair tratirr.

Alderman Bolingbruke said, that one print ipal defect in
the insolvent Acts, was the ime allot% ed to debtors heroic
they were called up• nto give up ihrif rtfrcls to their credi-
tars. As the law nou st I, a fraudulent debi..r had every
far Ilitv for mak iia; away u tah his creditor's plop,' ty
fore he was called Upon In deliver it up. Ile thought if the
Insolvent Acts could he in this respect amended, Itoe con-
sequences would be highly beneficial. It was fiom the Vll-
rime, suggestiolu which petit boo un this subject boon dif-
ferent parts of the kingdom would contain, that the I.egi -
!Mum uou d derive isiturniatien as to the opinions wt. incr.
catitile men.

Mr. Alhanc said, that in more than 60 cases in %%hit h
insolvent debtors had bee* discaarged under hi+ nun
I.llll\lledge, in u it more than too, had ans money been paid
into the receiset's hands, and even of thnap•, nothing had
ever been received li) the creditors.

Mr. Robert Bromide said, that he ditfered ir. npi • with
those gentlemen who laid spoken, Os to the principle of the
law. Ile thitte4lit it nut only found. din hum:wily, but jus-
tice. The pots er of imprisonment for an uivimited ti tie
ens too much to place in the hands of individuals, a! o
might, mid aho certainly ha (as appeared by the reniea,
lts•fore the Legislature, at the time of the ',kissing the fir t
Insolvent Act) abused it for the purposes of oppressitin and
revenge. Nothing could be more fair alai equsahle than
the pi inciple of a CeStiO /1.410111111 e If a creditor obtaii ed
the property of his debtor, if be got all that he ea, posses,ed
of, a hat more ought he to ask ? Gentlemen had dark ulnas
the evils attendant upon the Acts in question; but he would
ask, had there been no omprixatitis advantages U
douOtedly there had. In sum • caws property had bees' di-
sided among creditors, though he :•d pitted such isistatu. •
acre rare. But it ,Itoutrt he remembered, that of the pe. -
tutus who had participated in the anent of the Acts, many
were of a descripti .. no law could reach, stick as gamblers
and swindlers; these men under the old law would cqunhy
have cheated their creditors. It was alleged that these
species of crimes had increased. To this it might be an-
swered, so had.rimes of all kinds, and we ought not, there-
fore, to be burp iced that fraudulent debtors had increased
in u considerable degree. Ile admitted that the law might
be benefit ially revised : hut still lw cum rived the principle'
on which it was foamier,, was perfectly equitable.
Mr. E. lisator said, it was from the operation of the law
they must form their conclasamis : there had been evidence
abundantly su.lieieut to pr se, that it hat pt educed t
unjust eller ts. lie thought, is about giving any o' anion as'
to -what amendments should lie made in the law, the appliss
eat' to Pa rli.idiwat shmild cnnsist of a statement of facts,
leaving to the Legislature to provide a remedy fur the
grievance complained of.
Mr. Klinger said, that the prayer of the Petition was r f
too sa crying a nature to mei t eit h bus approbation—it
went to the total repeal of all the Insolvent I)ehlors' Acts.
This prayer, of coarse, if granted, would leave us subject
to all the acknowledled hardships and evils attendant upon
the old law. ft hail been argued, as if roguery us' the pin t
of debtors had been occasioned by these Acts ; the colon ;try
was notoriously the fact. Under the old lass the same per-
jury and fraud were practised; a dishonest debtor cnald •
equally waste his creditor's property in gaol. Ile wild
recommend, therefore, tin alteration in the prayer of the
Petition, so as to recognise theprinciple on w h eh the Are-
s vt Acts were passed, and yet to ask for such alterations as
experience had proved to be necessary. It was of ,rent
importance that a creditor should Mire early and immediate
possession of an insolvent debtors effects; awl he thought if
the. us as secured, the is its att..ialant on the present Act would
he 'emoted, and its beneficial inteutions secured.

An amendment to i hie cf.., et ;s as then made to the prayer
of the Peiiiions and read by Mr. A. T.O tar; ufter ahrch it
gas unanimous!) adopted be the Meeting.

At the General Nleet ing of the Pi.ving Commissioner, h.-'d
on Tuesday last, thy• follow big Report was receisrd I. on
the Committee appointed at the preceding meeting,, in take
into conndelat ion the b. st niet.as id carry ing into ed. ci the
Resolution of the C sinners respecting the lightin? part
of the cats with gas- and generally revising the act.—.' I but
in consequence of ft letter re) rived from Mr. Dorringion,
one of the Parliamentary Agents, it is expedient to delay
any appl.cation to Parliament for an amendment of the
present act ti I the next Ses.ima." It appeared the general
sentiment of lite Meeting, that it would, under all circum-
stances, he better to defer any application for the present,
as by the ne‘t year the subject in general would undergo a
more mature consideration. the rlte'ct of the new 'calamine
be more certainly known, and the future wants of the Cum.
mlssitiners be more correctly ascertained.

On Wednesday sennicht a fire broke out in the
chandling office of Mr. Barber, of Hempnall, which
threatened the destruction of teveral thatched dwellings
adjoining, but by the activity of the neighbours, and the
wind lying in a favourable direction, the devouring ele.
ment was got under without further damage than the
demolition of the ;remises in which it commenced.
Last week a Granary belonging to Mr. R. I)reker, of
‘Valsingliam, was broken into, and fifteen Coombs of
o its stolen therefrom ; a very liberal reward has been of.
fcred, but the offenders still remain undiscovered.

Os Friday last Richard Holliday, of ‘Valsintzharn, a
boy about seven years of age, being left by bi 4 mother
in charge of two others younger than himself, was tit
the act of putting some potatoes wt the boiler, his cloatha
caught fire, and he was so dreadfully burnt, that li
gnished in excruciating pain till the evening, u k:u
he eitniretl.

Sir Win. Windham tiling, Bart. high Shciff of
Norfolk, hss appointed limes Taylor Nlargitson, Esq.
hi, Under-Sheriff. The business will be :raissaeted as
heretofore in this city.

At Downhatti Market fair. on Wednfsday sennight.
there was the largest &hew of horses ever refit ittheical.
though little hilitiebs 111.19 tlOllO, rscrpt in pnwc stook
which brought extraordinary lota prices.