The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-23 00:00:00

ROUSE OF COMMONS, Nov. 22.

(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
Among the Members who were sworn in the
course of the morning were Mr. Scholefield, for Bir-
mingham; Mr. Reynolds, for Dublin; Mr. Labou-
chere (the President of the Board of Trade) ; Mr.
Sharman Crawford, Lord Melgund, Lord Bernard,
Mr. Smith O'Brien, Mr. F. Baring, Mr. Muntz,
Lord Charles Wellesley, Lord Nugent, Mr. W. E.
Gladstone, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Aglionby, Lord Ash-
ley, Mr. Robert Stephenson.
of At four o'clock the House, on the motion of Mr.
Tufnell, adjourned till to-morrow.

BANKRUPTCY and INSOLVENCY
LAWS.

A public meeting, called by the committee ap-
pointed at a meeting of merchants, bankers,
and traders, held in May, 1842, was held yester-
day, at one o'clock, at the London Tavern, and
to consider what steps ought to be adopted to obtain
an amendment of the law of bankruptcy and insol-
vency, and to receive the further reports of the com-
mittee in question.
Mr. Masterman, M.P., was voted to the chair.
Baron Rothschild, M.P., Mr. Foster, M.P., and Mr.
Alderman Sidney, M.P., were amongst those present.
Not more than 100 attended.
The CHAIRMAN stated that be felt much pleasure
in taking the chair. It would be unnecessary for
him, he thought, to dilate at any length on the im-
portance of the subject which they had met to con-
sider, as no doubt many of them had suffered from
the insolvency and bankruptcy laws. He then called
upon the secretary to read the report.
The SECRETARY read the document, which de-
tailed at great length the operations of the com-
mittee since its appointment. The accounts
showed a balance of 2761. 7s. Bd. Letters from
the Chambers of Commerce of Manchester,
Greenock, Hull, and Bristol, approving of the
views of the committee, were announced to have
been received. A letter to the same effect was read
from :Mr. Commissioner Fane, regretting that his
public duties would prevent his attendance.
Mr. FOSTER, M.P., rose to propose the first resolu-
tion—" That the evils under which the country is
now suffering from the vicious and disgraceful state
of the law of debtor and creditor, imperatively de-
mand that no further delay should be allowed in its
revision, in order to protect the mercantile and
trading classes from the systematic fraud and reck-
less trading which are now permitted to be practised
against them, almost with impunity. That
this meeting, therefore, receives and adopts the
principles embodied in the report of the committee."
The Learned Gentleman expressed his disapproval
of the present law, and strongly approved of arrest at
the instance of the Court of Bankruptcy, becae t
was prompt, silent, and sure. The seizure of property
was often attended with expense and difficult, but the
seizure of the body was always safe, because every
creditor knew his debtor; and he considered further,
that the officers of the law should be empowered to
break open a man's house, and take his body in execution.
He said he had not entered very deeply into the
subject, but he had that reliance on the committee
which justified him in supporting their opinions, and
doing ail in his power to carry them out. He
wished to see the unfortunate debtor treated well,
and the fraudulent one punished as he deserved. It
was said that tradesmen should take care of their
own interests, add not give unlimited credit; but
those who said this, and those who framed the laws of
which the committee complained, knew little of the
difficulties which tradesmen had to encounter.—
(Hear, hear.) The misfortune was, that the labour.
lag and industrious classes were compelled, under the
present law, to pay out of their often ill-requited
labour the rauds to which tradesmen were now sub-
jected. Ile attributed the defective state of the
law to the legislation of lawyers alone in
the matter, instead of the opinions of mer-
cantile men receiving the great consideration
which their experience entitled them to claim. The
law of partnership was also in a dreadful state,. be-
cause no law could with certainty he applied to it.
There was too much law with respect to partner-
ship, and also too little; in fact, this was the only
country in Europe in which so defective a law on this
subject prevailed.—(Hear.)
Mr. AMERY seconded the motion. He sail he had
had long practical experience in those laws, and be
wished distinctly to state the law of bankruptcy and
insolvency required vast amendment. lie considered,
with Mr. Commissioner Pane, that a law should be
framed to facilitate the settlement of a bankrupt's
affairs; because at present 99 creditors might be
satisfied, and the hundredth, who had no peculiar
claim, might upset the wishes of all the rest,
and obtain payment for himself. Settlements out of
court should be enforced wherev‘r possible. He was
one of the profession who considered that the sudden
abolition of arrest for small sums had been productive
of the greatest evil. His experience justified him in
saying that many debts had been irretrievably lost by
the creditors not being able to get possession of the
debtor's body.--(Hear.) He trusted before long to
see an improved stare of things.
Tee motion was carried.
Mr. MIcuELL proposed the second resolution :
" That this meeting recognises the important advan-
tages to be derived from the administration of the
Court of Bankruptcy, and is therefore desirous that
greater facilities should be afforded for bringing
within its jurisdiction, at the earliest possible period,
the persons and estates of insolvents. That the prin-
ciple established by the County Courts' Act, of
punishment by imprisonment fc r fraud, wilful extra-
vagance, and dishonesty, ought to be extended, and
the I .aw of arrest for debt upon mesne process restored,
but accompanied with ample precautions against
abuse." He said there was a general feeling amongst
merchants to keep their names out of the Gazette, if a
settlement could be at all made with their creditors.
Creditors seldom wished to put their debtors in the
Gazett-, unless a preference had been given to one
or more creditors to the exclusion of the others.
When a man could not pay 20s. in the pound he
should first be called upon to show why he could not
do so, and if he continued to trade until he could not
pay more than 2s. or 3s. in the pound, he should be
punished.—•(Hear) Such conduct as this brought
the utmost disgrace upon this, country.—(Hear.)
The onus of proof of inability to pay 20s. should lie
upon the debtor instead of the creditor, for at present
all the expense of proof fell upon the latter. The
absurd Bill of Lord Brougham was one of the most
crude and ill-digested attempts ever made to tamper
with commercial property. It was all very well
to say that a man must not give credit, but the great
pursuits of the country could not be carried on unless
credit, on an extensive scale, was given. He was
iully persuaded that the commercial greatness of this
country would ere long degenerate, unless these laws
were based on a more comprehensive scale.—(Hear.)
The mercantile mind must be called upon to aid in
the discussion of the question.
Mr. Alderman SIDNEY, M.P., seconded the resolu-
tion. He said he perfectly concurred in the objects
of the meeting—those objects, he considered, were
simply mercy to the unfortunate debtor and the due
punishment of the fraudulent one. He trusted the
Committee would persevere until they obtained an
alteration of the law.
The motion, like the last, was carried unanimously.
Baron ROTHScUILD, M.P., moved the next resolu •
anddorng_ : said that he experienced great pleasure in
" That the committee be instructed to de-
ernaryin3 7f tthheseeGovernment immediate measures for
ad-
mitted that he principles into effect." He ad-
upon the subject w-
"b
not well versed in the law
chilatntittoonbley
experience as
merchant
the to give enabledrequired
aay practicaltbat
the Government
to the subject than they more serious attention
hadmieanuthe past. It appeared
to bim a rather diffiwchuoltcould er to deal with•—to
203. in the
compel the trader
yhat he wished
pound to account for his inabilitnyotre\Pva
aandedtYparrrevaler
was, to see a law to facilitate a tuo.
went between debtors and creditors,
Dian who had once been an insolvent froma
fraudulently into debt with others.--(Hearne.)gelpg
question could not be in better hands than in those Thee
r. Hawes, and the other gentlemen who had taken
so active a part in the matter.
Mr. GASIOT seconded the motion. He said when
the law permitted a man to pay 3s. or 4s. in the
pound there must be
something wrong, and it was
therefore the imperative duty of the merchants of
the City of London to insistuponareforbrmiefly
Mr. JOHNSON, the offilia.i assignee,
formerly ad-
dressed
the meeting. He said the time.a.
of
the Bankruptcy Court was swallowed. A
up by
solvency, its increase had been so grea presentl
the law was so defective that a trader who owed
1500/., but who had only 2001., was dragged into
the Bankruptcy Court, whilst
a banker,
'<awned 500,0001., obtained a meeting of his who
creditors,
- old liialifilthrough the court almost snb silenlio on a
balance-sheet made out by his own accountant.
,;--(11-eur.) -After detailing facts to show the defer-
, lave state- of these laws, he suggested that a meeting
au the subject should ae held by the merchants of
lend" in the Egyptian liall, the Lord Alayor pre.

•

~~~. ,
S'