The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-23 00:00:00

NATtritDilY

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF BANKRUPI CY. Aug. 22.
(Before Mr. Commissioner FANS.)
IN RE CARSTON HOLTROUSE,

The bankrupt was a r•ugar-bruker, sugar-dealer,
and wine-merchant in Great Tower-street. His
debts are 7,1891 ; the assets have realised 1,3001.
This was the certificate meeting. Mr. Matthews
opposed, Mr. Lawrence supported.
Mr. MATTHEWS was willing that his Honour should
give his judgment upon the certificate as the case
against the bankrupt stood at the close of the exami-
nation meeting.
The COMISISSIONEE—The case against the bankrupt
may have been then fully investigated ; not so the
circumstances in his favour. I should like to hear
what Mr. La wrance has to say on behalf of the
bankrupt.
Mr. MATTHEWS—ID that case I shall feel it my
duty to call the leading features of the case (as at
present heard) to the recollection of the Court, and
shall also feel at liberty to introduce new matter.
The CoMMIsSIONER—You can do so.
Mr. MATTHEWS proceeded—As a sworn broker of
the city of London, the bankrupt had neglected his
duties in not keeping a proper book of his transac-
tions. He was clearly bound by statute to take this
course. He had violated the statute in another re-
spect. In place of charging brokerage to the vendor
he had charged it to the purchaser. The reason fur
this was obvious ; the bankrupt wished to conceal from
the vendors the character of the trade that he was pur-
suing. Upon purchases and sales to the extent of
37,0001. the bankrupt had had an average loss of
of about three per cent., the goods having been ge-
nerally sold a few days after their purchase. In
scarcely one instance had there been a profit. In a
few instances the goods were sold at the cost price ;
in others they were sold at losses varying from 5 to
3 per cent., the average loss upon transactions to the
amount of 37,0001. being, as he had stated, somewhat
beyond 3 per cent. It was also to be observed that
the bankrupt had, during the few months next pre-
ceding his bankruptcy, increased his account with
Messrs. Conway from 5341. to 815/., and with Messrs.
Whistler and Scrivens, from 1,508/: to 1,701/

,
The COMMISSIONER—I do not think this very ma-
terial.

Mr. MATTHEWS continued—He should not charac-
terize the bankrupt as one who had recklessly carried
on his trade at great expense, and thus dissipated the
property of his creditors. His object appeared rather
to have been to keep his head above water, by assum-
ing the appearance of a wholesale dealer in Mincing-
lane, and living at a moderate rate of expenditure. It
was by maintaining this appearance that he had been
able to commit his depredations upon the public
purse. Although in 1849 the bankrupt owed 5,0641.
he had not a vestige of sugar on his premises,
or under his own control ; the goods were
purchased on credit, and sold the same day, or
nearly so, for cash at a positive loss. Losses had been
thus incurred to the extent of 1,4001., and of these
losses the bankrupt's wine creditors had particular
cause for complaint, as but for them the bankrupt
might have kept his ground. All his profits in the
wine trade he was more than sinking in the sugar
trade, and this by adopting a principle of business
most unhealthy and injurious to the fair trader.
During this time the bankrupt was keeping up the
appearance of a steady fair taader, and carefully ab-
stained from disclosing the mode upon which he was
conducting his business. The result was this—the
bankrupt now owed 7,1891., and his estate would
probably pay a dividend of about 2s. in the pound.
The COMMISSIONER—And of the assets I find that
❑ot one sixpence is produced by the bankrupt's stock
of sugar.
Mr. MATTHEWS continued—He had also to com-
plain that the bankrupt had obtained a loan from Mr.
Moore by means of false representations. The bankrupt
had borrowed two sums of 100/. each from Mr.
Moore, and on one occasion be had represented him-
self to be carrying on a most profitable business, so
much so that he thought he should soon be able to
retire from it with a competency. He would, how-
ever, call Mr. Moore. _

Mr. Moore was called—He was a confectioner at
Holborn-hill. O❑ the 21st of February he had lent
the bankrupt 1001. on his promissory note payable on
demand. In October, 1849, he bad similarly lent the
bankrupt 1001. On that occasion the bankrupt bad
assured him that he was doing a very excellent busi-
ness, and that his circumstances were such that the
only difficulty in the way of his retiring from trade
was the getting a young man to go into partnership
with him. Their money transactions had been ♦ery
extensive, and he had always cherished the very
highest respect for the _bankrupt, so much so that if
any person had whispered a word against his charac-
ter he should have ordered him out of his house. The

bankrupt told him in October, 1849, that he was
short of money, in consequence of having to give long
credit in the wine trade, and he (Mr. Moore) thought
this was very probable, the bankrupt having an ex-
tensive connexion with the aristocracy at the West-
end.

In reply to Mr. LAWRANCE, the witness said his
charge to the bankrupt for loans was at the rate of 10
per cent. He was present at the meeting of creditors
when an offer of 55. in the pound was made. Mr.
Matthews objected to the offer on behalf of Messrs.
Conway. He (Mr. Moore) had asked the bankrupt
to give him a policy of insurance, so that he might be
paid in full after the bankrupt should have received
his certificate. The policy was to contain a covenant
to keep up the premiums, so that the debt was to have
been paid in full.
In reply to Mr. Matthews,
Mr. Moore said he rather thought that both
Messrs. Travers and Messrs. Conway objected to ac-
cept the composition, and that they did so on the
ground that the bankrupt's conduct required investi-
gation with respect to the mode in which he had pur-
sued his sugar trade.
Mr. LAWRANCE addressed the Court for the bank-
rupt. He bad a somewhat painful task to perform.
The bankrupt had passed the age of three score years
and ten. His career had been one of unimpeachable
integrity. He had brought up with great credit to
himself a large family, one of whom was at the Bar,
and another in the Church. The bankrupt's losses in
the course of his trading had been unfairly magnified.
It was true that his losses by sugar had been 1,0371.;
but if from this were deducted, as they ought to be,
the bankrupt's profits of upwards of 6001. upon his
wine trade, to carry on with success which losses on
the former might have been unavoidable, the balance
of the bankrupt's trading during the period in ques-
tion was no more than a loss of 4181. Granting that
the bankrupt's losses upon his sugar transactions to
the extent of 37,0001. had been three per cent., they
ought to look also to the favourable circumstances of
the case. The bankrupt's expenditure had been most
moderate; members of his own family were creditors
to the amount of 1,0501.; there had not
been the slightest preference; in fact, the
solitary improper conduct in respect to the sugar was
to outweigh all the other and numerous circum-
stances in his favour. His Honour, on a former oc-
casion, had well said, in language better than any that
he, Mr. La wrance, could command, that " the elas-
ticity of hope with which men in business indulged
must not be too strictly curbed by fear of bankruptcy,"
and in this case there was good rea.on for believing
that the bankrupt cherished a hope that he might
overcome his difficulties. It should not pass without
notice that nearly the whole of the creditors—includ-
ing Messrs. Whistler and Co., creditors for nearly
1,7001., and Mr. Moore—were willing to accept the
composition offered by the bankrupt, and he hardly
thought that Mr. Moore could now have been a will-
ing witness after what he had stated, that he had lent
his particular friend money at the rate of 10 per
cent., and sought to get the old man of seventy to
mortgage his future earnings in order to secure the
payment of his debt in full. He called upon the
Court to take that large and liberal view of this case
that was its wont in others, and to grant the bankrupt
an immediate certificate.

His LloNoua said that in a case of such very great
importance he should not think of giving an imme-
diate judgment. He would grant the bankrupt pro-
tection to the 4th of September, and give his judg-
ment before he left for his vacation.