The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-01 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Dec. 31.
(Before Mr. Commissioner SHEPHERD.)
IN RE T. AND C. LOCKHART.
The bankrupts were described as florists and seeds-
men of Cheapside, and came up on application for their
certificate.
They were opposed by Mr. Dowse, on the part of a
Mr. Andrew Duncan, of Aberdeen and supported by Mr.
cc I Cooke.

The principal ground of opposition was an alleged
misrepresentation made by the bankrupts to Mr. Duncan
, upon his becoming one of their partners some time since,
when they declared their stock to be worth upwards of
N
14 5,0001., and in consideration of which he (Mr. Duncan)
a a vanced them 1,5001. His business was to attend to
s% the books, which he did, and he was to have nothing to
do with the buying or the selling. The negotiation for
!,., the partnership was chiefly managed by the bankrupts'
,4 father, and a draft was prepared by their solicitors.
Mr. Duncan was examined at great length by Mr.
Cooke, and stated that he did not read the draft himself,
and neither did he read it over to any other persons,
though he would not swear that he had not had it for
two or three days in his own possession. The only sum
he drew from the concern was about 243/, including
:e. deb.s of the firm which he had collected from the cus-
tomers for about 431. Previous to the dissolution of his
partnership with the bankrut is in July, 1844, he had
employed a Mr. Elliott to value the stock, when he
' found that several valuable beds of ranunculuses were
,34
said not to belong to them, but to a Mr. Lightbody, of
'm Falkirk. Upon his entering into the partnership the
bankrupts stated to him that they were each to receive
600/. a year out of the business, and that sum was re-
' cognised as the amount to be so drawn by their deed of
,li partnership.
Mr. Commissioner SHEPHERD (to Mr. Duncan)—
; What are the profits said to be on flowers ? Mr. Dur.-
can said he understood from the bankrupts that it was
equal to 300 per cent.
17, And did you expect when you entered into the part-
-1 nership that you were to get 6001. a year upon a capital
A of only 1,500/.?—Yes sir, I did.
1 Mr. Theodore Lockhart, in examination by Mr.
,% Dowse, denied that he had ever represented himself to
44 Mr. Duncan as having any property at Oxfordshire,
'l4 although about the year 1837 or 1838 he had bought
some for his foster-brother, upon which the deposit
34 money was paid, but he believed the property in ques-
-44 Lion was now in Chancery.
2s. Examined by Mr. COOK.—I showed Mr. Duncan all-
hJ. our books before the partnership, and he even assisted
me in the business several times before the deed was
1i completed. I positively swear that when Mr. Duncan
joined
florists in us tthheesktOCinkgdo. wasm lire worth
hmador2eotohoanthesr,oBoool.s,
whichlhave
been in business for twenty-five years, during fifteen of
which I was at Haerlem (Holland), and since that period
in England. I had, as portion of my stock, from eight
to ten thousand white turbans, a vast variety of elnoirs,
besides I was in the habit of serving one of the first
ice
florists
_ would fetch in the shop ls. each, and the elnoirs 2s. 6d.,
as we had that species exclusively. We sent eight boxes
of ranunculuses back, because they did not suit us, and
Mr. Duncan himself wrote the letter which accompanied
them.

Mr. Charles Lockhart, in examination by Mr. Cooke,
' denied his ever having told Mr. Duncan that their profits
were 1,8001 a year; on the contrary, he said it averaged
.% rather better than 6001. a year.
'A Mr. DOWSE was heard at considerable length, and
contended that from the evidence now before the Court,
4 it was clear that the bankrupts had obtatned 1,500/. from
1 Mr. Duncan, and that there could be no pretence for not
staying the certificate for some considerable period.
Mr. CooKs characterised this opposition as both vexa-
% ious and vindictive. The names of these men were known
qi as well in the land of Flowers as in England and in Scot-
,
land, and though they were bankrupts at this moment,
they stood so high in character that their princical cre-
ditors were at once prepared to assist them upon their
re-entering into business. The joint creditors were
only 733 L ss. 9d., and the assets realised 7941., while
upon the separate estate of one 16s. 7d. and upon the
other 2s. 3d. in the pound, would be realised. He (Mr.
Cooke) with confidence asked for their immediate certi-
ficate.

Mr. Commissioner SHEPHERD—There was a good
deal of peculiarity in this case, and much conflicting
testimony. However, it appeared clear to him that no
false representations had been made by them as to the
value of their stock when Mr. Duncan joined them as a
partner, and as that allegation was unfounded, the de-
cision of the Court was, that the bankrupts were en-
titled to have their certificates forthwith.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-BOUS E.
Three boys, the youngest of whom was eight years,
and the eldest twelve years of age, were brought before
the Lord Mayor. They were in a miserable plight, and
a gentleman, who saw one of them commit a petty theft,
caused them all to be apprehended, in order to have in-
quiry made into their apparently desolate condition.
The case proved to be one of ordinary occurrence.
The boys were all the children of very poor parents, who
are, probably, unable to support them, deriving a pre •
carious living for themselves from vending articles in the
streets. It was stated by the children that as they had
nothing to do they walked about together, and their
parents were, God knew where, all day endeavouring to
scrape up the means of getting a bit of bread and paying
for the wretched room in which they contrived to live.
Fifty such cases have been brought before the present
Chief Magistrate.
The LORD MAYOR said it was most deplorable to see
these poor children on the road to certain destruction.
It was a disgrace to the great nation which boasted of
charity, taking within its comprehensive grasp the dis-
tressed and afflicted of all classes, that the streets should
he crowded with poor, half-naked children, who had no
human being to guide them, many of whom were sent
out by their parents to beg or steal, and others, with-
out parents or friends, prowling about, disregarded by
the officers of the unions, and, in fact, encouraged in the
practices of poverty and rice ;by the depraved people
with whom they necessarily came into contact in the
course of their proceedings.
Mr. Goodman (the Chief Clerk) said, that although
he had been but a short time in the situation he held, he
had seen an infinity of cases of the kind. There ap-
peared to be no approach to an abatement of the evil,
which was certainly one of the greatest magnitude.
The New Poor-law did not meet the difficulty. That
law punished parents for refusal or neglect to support
their children; but bow easily were its provisions evaded.
Children would, when their parents were looking after a
livelihood in the streets, wander about from place to
place, and fall in with bad associates, and it could not be
said that their parents refused or neglected to support
them. But those who were bound to carry the law into
effect, by compelling the parishes of the poor to sup-
port them, did not perform their duty. The City of
London Union had no refuge for the miserable creatures
who crowded into London, except at Peckham, a dis-
tance of three miles, to which they were sent at all
hours, with tickets for admission.
The Loan MAYOR said that he would supplicate the
powerful press of the metropolis to lend their great
assistance in checking the dreadful evil, by calling the
attention of the Legislature to it. Of all the painful
spectacles he had ever witnessed, that of the crowds of
helpless children with which the streets were deluged,
was the most affecting. Multitudes of them were, he
knew beyond all doubt, sent out to beg by their parents
or other relatives. They were thrown upon the world
at the age when the mind was flexible to any impression
of good or evil, and they were imperceptibly led into
the commission of crime, until repeated acts rendered
them incorrigible. Society thus became responsible for
jthe contamination to which poor children were sub-
ected.
There was a total absence of restraint or
good example, and the very ingenuity displayed in
the little acts of dishonesty perpetrated by those
of tender years was encouraged by the laughter,
and in some cases by the approbation, of the lookers on.
There was no calamity, in his mind, comparable to that
which sprung from the bringing up of youth in habits
and practices of idleness and vice. The Legislature
spent hours and days in discussing the principle of edu-
cation. Could the minds of the representatives of
the people be more benevolently employed than in
devising the means of correcting the awful evil which
was always before the eyes of the magistrate, and was
almost as frequently encountered by the men concerned
in the ordinary transactions of town life? He was con-
vinced that a blessing would wait upon any effort of the
kind he suggested ; and again he would beseech the in-
fluential press of the metropolis to take the important
question into their hands for the sake of common hu-
nnitY• What could he do, as a magistrate, in the case
Old baile
Commit these three children for stealing a
Bailey
for werg!, they persons to be sent for trial to the
heart bled s heart revolted at the thought, for his
creatures who, like trd
rein the thousands of poor young
going headlong into
, were without protection, and
Mr. Goodman said he
would be given to his Lot n
vital a subject, and that
some o 4
doubt that publicity
observations on so
minded men would apply to the le,:evolent and high•
alone a remedy could be administereti4ture, The LORD MAYOR acknowledged the esi,; by whom
note, No. 94,147, and dated 11th November-114 of a 51.
for the poor applicants at the Mansion-house,B4s' a' J.,
Mr. Dash wood, surgeon, of Greenwich obtained
summons against Messrs. Chaplin and Horne, carriers
under the following circumstances :
Mr. Dashwood received a letter some days ago from his
father, the Rev. Wm. Dashwood, of Suffolk, informing
him that a parcel containing turkeys, &c., and money for
the children, should be sent from Beccles by the Star
coach to London, directed to him on Christmas•eve. ge
called at the Spread Eagle booking-office on the 24th
instant accordingly, and was direeted from thence to the
Eastern Counties Railway terminus at Shoreditch, where
he applied for the prrcel, but without receiving any
satisfactory answer. In fact, he was jeered with the
advice to go quickly home, or his turkeys would arrive
before him. life had a eorapany of thirteen friends to
dine with him on Christmas-day, but no turkey up.
peered. On the following night, however, at nine
o'clock, the parcel was conveyed to him at Greenwich,
with the additional charge of one shilling, his father
having paid 2s. ed. for the carriage. Mr. Dashwood
produced the printed bill with the charge marked upon
it, and the Lord Mayor seeing the names "Chaplin and
Horne" at the bottom of it in printed letters as carriers,
directed that a summons should be sent to that respect-
able firm.
gentleman attended from Messrs. Chaplin and
Horne, and sympathised with Mr, Dashwood, but stated
that the firm had not had anything whatever to do with
the Star coach for some time, and knew nothing what-
ever of the transaction.
Dashwood said that before the establishment of
the Eastern Counties Railroad the utmost regularity was
i
observed in the delivery of parcels at Christmas, as well
as at all other times, but that
since the line was in opera-
irregularity
;ion nothing could surpass the marvellous