The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-20 00:00:00

PROCEEDINGS IN BANKRUPTCY.

In April last the Lord Chancellor, displeased with
the accounts of the official assignees and messengers
of the Court of Bankruptcy for the Leeds district,
requested Mr. Commissioner Ayrton, one of the
commissioners there, and Mr. Harding, the well-
known London accountant, to institute a rigid exa-
mination and scrutiny of all their books, and to
report to him on the subject. The result of this in-
vestigation turned out to be of so very lament-
able a character that his lordship, immediately it
was made known to him, followed up his request.
by issuing an order directing a similar proceeding
as to the accounts of every official assignee and mes-
senger in all the district courts in the country, with
power also to inquire into the manner in which the
bills of costs were taxed by the registrars of the
various courts. That order was dated the 2th of
May last, and is as follows :
Lord Chancellor.—ln Bankruptcy.
Friday, May 20, 1861.

Whereas defaults have from time to time been made by
11 several of the official assignees of the Court of Bankruptcy,
and serious losses have thereby been occasioned to creditors
under bankrupt estates, and it is desirable that such occur-
rences should be prevented for the future; and whereas,
from a recent investigation directed by rise into the accounts
of the official assignees and messengers of the Court of Bank-
ruptcy for the Leeds district, it appears to me to be expe-
dient that the books and accounts of every official assignee
and messenger of the oourt should undergo a similar inves-
tigation ; and whereas I deem it necessary also to inquire
into the manner in which the taxation of bills of costs by
the registrars, both at Leeds and in the other district
court, is conducted ;—Now by virtue of the Bankruptcy
Act, 1861, and of every authority vested in mP, I do hereby
give power and authority to William Scrope Ayrton, Esq.,
one of the Commissioners of the Court of Bankruptcy for
the Leeds district, and Robert Palmer Harding, of Bank-
buildings, Lothbury, in the city of London, accountant, to
make further inquiry into the matter aforesaid in the court
of bankruptcy for the Leeds district, and also to investigate
and make inquiry into such matters in the court of bank-
ruptcy at Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Liverpool, Man-
chester, and Newcastle, and to report fully to me thereon,
with power to them to examine such persons and to call for
the production of such books, papers, and proceedings as
they may think fit.

WESTBURY C.

We believe the inquiry under this order has been
completed so far as regards the courts at Leeds,
Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool, and the
result is that, besides the discovery of many very
gross irregularities, it has been found that large
sums of m)ney have been improperly retained, both
by the official assignees and by the messengers,
which ought to have been paid over to the chief re■
gistrar's account—sums, we are told, already amounts
ing in the aggregate to upwards of £14,000. The
examinations at Leeds and Birmingham were, we be-
lieve, completed in time to be communicated to the
Parliamentary Committee on Bankruptcy, and as
the evidence taken before that committee, and an ap-
pendix containing a variety of documents that were
called for, will be printed in the coarse of a few
days, the public will soon have an opportunity of
forming a judgment on the importance of the inquiry
directed by the Lord Chancellor, and still in course
of prosecution, and on the disclosures which have
hence come to light. If all we hear be true, we are
only afraid that his lordship will very generally be
considered to have been but too lenient with the
offenders—to have erred on the side of mercy. We
believe it is his lordship's intention that the inquiry
shall be extended to the accounts of the official
assignees and messengers acting in London.