The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-05 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Jan. 3.
(Before Mr. Commissioner FANE.)
IN HE JOHN HINE MAY—JUDGMENT.
This bankrupt, a draper, of Camden-town, applied
a short time since for his certificate, and judgment
was deferred.

His HONOUR now gave judgment as follows :
The bankrupt asks for his certificate. The assignees
object on general grounds, and two creditors—Mr.
Warwick and Messrs. Bradbury and Co.—on special
grounds. The general grounds are—firstly, gaining
credit by misrepresentation ; secondly, not keeping
proper books ; and, thirdly, reckless trading. The
alleged misrepresentation was that the bankrupt,
through Messrs. Parker and Hine, whom he had made
his referees, and one of whom, Mr. Hine, was a re-
lation of his, gave out that he bad a capital of 2,0001.,
which representation, as it is alleged, was not true.
The evidence, however, does not satisfy me that he
ever authorised the exact representation made by Mr.
Parker. That gentleman was examined before me,
but he could not go further than to say that he had an
impression that the bankrupt had told him he bad such
capital, though bow he came by the impression he could
not exactly state. He never took down any statement
in writing. Now the bankrupt had married, in 1848, a
lady who had 7741., and expectations besides. His
wife's sister had the same sum, which she let him
have on loan, and her mother had 6801., which she
also ler t him. These three sums amounted to 2,000/.
and upwards. The mother and sister came to live
with him, and led him to expect that he would have
the use of their money for his trade so long as he
paid interest. In 1849 his mother-in-law died, and
on her death he appears to have received, partly in
right of his wife and partly by the consent of his
sister-in-law, a further considerable sum. To say
that, under such circumstances as these, he had wil-
fully conveyed falsehoods to his creditors through
Mr. in my opinion, be most unjust.
therefore, I entirely acquit him. And
that I wish creditors, when con-
sidering whether to give credit or not, would look
more to the prospects of their intended debtor than
to his supposed wealth. Creditors ought not to trust
capital. They ought to trust prudence, experience,
knowledge of businees, and the sort of business
which is being carried on. Had the creditors in this
case inquired, not how much capital the bank-
rupt had to lose in his business, but whether
his business was likely to prosper, they would
have seen ample grounds for caution. They might
have learned that he was a young man without
experience; that the capital was not the result of his
own industry, but an incident of marringe ; and
that he had taken a shop at Camden-town, where two
predecessors had failed ; and from these circumstances
they might have anticipated that the capital so easily
acquired would soon melt away under the influence
of youth, inexperience, and an ill-chosen site. To
none of these circumstances, however, did they look.
All that they looked to was how much capital he had
to lose. But is this right ? The practical result h,
that in less than three years himself, his wife, and
his wife's sister, are reduced from comparative afflu-
ence to penury. Capital soon melts away in the
hands of inexperience, stimulated to folly by the
sudden possession of apparently ample funds. The
other general charges are, the not keeping proper
books:and reckless trading; and of these it is im-
possible to acquit him. Good book-keeping is almost
the only security for success in business, and this he
utterly neglected. He did not even keep a cash
account, which is the basis of all bookkeeping. His
trading was also reckless, for it appears by his accounts
thatwhile his profits for three years were almost no-
thing, his outlay for shop improvements was 3001. ; his
trade expenses were 3,000/. ; and his domestic ex-
penses 9001. and upwards; and when the natural result
of this was that he was unable to meet his payments,
he endeavoured to postpone the evil day by borrowing
and pawning goods at heavy interest. There is, how-
ever, some set-off against these grounds of complaint,
for, from the moment that his creditors called for in-
vestigation, he acceded to their wish, put himself en-
tirely into their hands, and appears to have told the
whole truth without the least disguise. He has also
given up everything that he had remaining, and the
result is an actual receipt under his estate of 2,000/.
and upwards. I heartily wish the case had rested
here; for had there been nothing more I might,
having regard to his youth and the sufferings in
which he has involved himself, his wife, and sister-in-
law, have merely suspended his certificate and given
him protection. But, unfortunately, under bad advice
uhettwerly i
was induced on,
to give orders for goods to Mr. the 24th of July last, when he was
Warwick and Messrs. Bradbury and Co. (who are
the creditors who complain on these special grounds),
and to Messrs. Mair and Co., for the express purpose
of having those goods pawned at once to raise the
funds necessary to meet a demand upon him. It is
impossible to characterise this otherwise than as a
gross fraud. If there are palliating circumstances—.
and Ido not say they are—they are these, that the
pressure upon the bankrupt was great, the peril to a
friend was immediate, the advice he received from
certain parties was most wicked, and in the hurry of
the moment he had not strength of character to resist
the pressure. The goods he so obtained were under
1001., and he says—and I am disposed to believe him
—that he meant to redeem them as soon as possible
after his return home. I cannot, however, say judie
suspend his certificate, but refuse
cially that these are even palliating circumstances,
i
.from arrest. If, however, a
and therefore I must, in the discharge of my public
tor, however justly indignant
at
tiurt
ntoytn,hgepe Drdoo
tt e c
cot
rinoel
lady
fraud, should concur with me in thinking
that the transactions of the 24th of July were the re-
sult more of feebleness of character than of knavery,
and should abstain from the power of arrest put into
his hands, I shall not regret it. If the power should
be exercised, I
Mshall release him after three months'
imprisonment. y judgment is that his certificate is
postponed for two years from the date of the bank-
ruptcy, without protection.
An application made by Mr. A. Turner for the
Court's sanction to prosecute the bankrupt at the ex-
pense of the estate, was refused.
Mr. Lawrance was for the bankrupt.
IN RE W. STRANGE, JUN.
The bankrupt was a publisher of Paternoster-row.
The accounts prepared by Mr. Butler showed debts
':395l 7 unsecured, 1,3521. The assets were
—good
6/. ; property given up, 1461.; ditto
s_e cor
dd
debts,in the hands of creditors, 2921. The profits had been
4,305/. Amount paid to W. Strange, sen., 1,282/. ,
trade expenses, 2,606/ ; personal ditto, 4821.
His HONOUR granted a third-class certificate.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE
GUILDHALL.
Mrs. Dawson alias Phabe Blakeney, who was
charged with having committed wilful and corrupt
perjury in 1833, by making affidavit in Doctors -
commons that she was the only natural and lawful
daughter of the late ➢Trs. Elam, widow of Lieutenant
Elam, of the Bth Garrison Battalion, appeared before
Alderman Farebrother for further examination rela-
tive to that charge.

Mr. Huddlestone, on behalf of Miss Elam, said
that he had no evidence to offer beyond the facts
already in the possession of the magistrate, but that,
from inquiries made by Messrs. Cotterell, they had
not the least doubt of being able, on a subsequent
of Miss Georgina
Elam, and that she would also be entitled to a part, if
not the whole of the property Mrs. Dawson was
charged with unlawfully administering to, as the only
occasion, to prove the legitimacy
next of kin. With regard to the charge against that
lady, he should leave it in the hands of the worthy
alderman to adjudicate upon.
Mr. Ballantine, in reply, said that this, like all
other empty charges, had ended with a bombastic
flourish of trumpets, and, in abandoning the charge,
these parties came forward and stated that they could
prove everything,
but had proved nothing. Mrs.
Dawson had always been the kindest friend Miss
Elam ever had ; she
had clothed, fed, sheltered, and
protected her; and yet she (Mrs. Dawson) was
dragged from her home to a police-court, confined in
a cell, and her admission to bail opposed by the prose-
cution, and that, too,
without the slightest regard to
the woman, her position,
for such a gross violation of
or even common courtesy,
and without any ground
the criminal law of this country. They failed in every
point upon which the charge was grounded, and
throughout these proceedings they had kept the real
prosecutors mysteriously concealed, and Miss Elam
had been merely a
puppet in the hands of parties
behind the screen, who pulled the wires and
set the whole affair in motion, but who
would,
when a further inquiry took place
elsewhere be unmasked and punished for
this
conspiracy. There was no doubt this girl
(Miss Elam) had been picked up anywhere, and
palmed off upon
When Mrs. Elam died Mrs. Dawson, instead of ad-
ministering immediate)
late weak Lord Portarlington.
ediately to the property, consulted
Mr. Palmer, who is well known as a highly respect-
able solicitor, and was advised by him to take out
letters of administration ; and so satisfied was he:of
the validity of her claim that he became co-security
for the whole amount, and signed the bond accord-
ingly. It was true that the morality of the intimacy
between Mrs. Dawson and Lord Portarington was
rather questionable, but, since his Lordship's death,
she had been living a virtuous and respectable life,
and was therefore entitled to the respect due to her
position.

Alderman FARERROTHER said, no proof bad been
given of Miss Elam being the daughter of Mrs.
Elam, and, in absence of that, he must discharge
the case.

Mrs. Dawson
occasion, was then discharged.
who attended voluntarily on this

Upwards of five hundred locomotives were em-
ployed on the various metropolitan lines to convey the cattle
to the Christmas cattle Shop and market.