The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-16 00:00:00

ra smd, LONDOIN FP.II) FVFNIWO., MARCH 16. Roo

papers on the table, that the Goyernrueat had very ruucu
neglected their duty in not urging upon the French Go-
vernment the necessity of giving up those differential duties
upon British shipping. The steam shipping of this coun-
try could no doubt compete with all the world, but the other
shipping was in a state of greater depression than it had
been for many years. The shipowners therefore complained
that their interests had been overlooked, while American
ships entering French ports paid a much smaller duty than
British shipping to the extent of three francs per kilo-
gramme; and in many cases they paid no duty whatever,
and to that extent they would give a great advantage to our
great competitors, the American shipowners. That was a
point to which sufficient importance had not been attached.
Lord WENSLEYDALE made some remarks with
respect to the 11th article, which were inaudible in the
gallery, but was understood to differ from the Lord Chan-
cellor.
Lord CRANWORTH said he felt that he would not be
doing his duty if he did not say that, in his opinion, his
noble and learned friend on the woolsack was quite right in
the view he had taken of this matter.

The Duke of NEWCASTLE said that, under any cir-
cumstances, he should feel great difficulty in rising to take
part in a debate of such duration, but he felt still more the
difficulty when he had to follow the speech of the noble earl
(Lord Derby), and also the speach of his noble friend (Earl
Grey), who had spoken with more than his usual ability
and force. But he felt it to be his duty, however difficult,
to answer the objections which had been urged withrespect
to the latter part of the !speech of the nobl earl opposite.
He would say that while he did not admit° the political sig-
nificance of the treaty in the sense of the noble earl, he fully
admitted its political importance and bearing. He had to
learn that they were not to bind the relations between the
two countries still closer, unless there were special reasons
to the contrary. He would remind their lordships that this
treaty was negotiated at a time when the question of the
annexation of Savoy had not been raised. He next came
to a muoh graver charge, but let him first state that it was
not the fact that the Government were in ,ossession of the
intentions of the Emperor three months before they made
representations on the subject. As soon as the intention of
the Emperor assumed a tangible form they made represen-
tations to European Powers on the subject; and whatever
might be their course on the treaty it would not in the
slightest degree influence their action on the question of
Sale. It was by no means an unusual course to propose
a joint address of both Houses of Parliament to her
Majesty, and Mr. Pitt's precedent was followed on a
similar occasion and for the same purpose,
.namely,
of affording an opportunity of fully discussing the
subject. It was said that the treaty was a bargain,
but it was not a bargain in the sense intended, although
it was a bargain in the sense of the interchange
of gifts. The treaty was useful, if not necessary, in assisting
France to trace her steps in the course they had been so long
treading. They had taught France her protective and pro-
hibitive system, and the result had been the disappear...et,
of various articles of French produce from our markets.
Those articles were exported to Spain and other countries
where trade flourished, while it languished here. We should,
by our present course, get back our old trade. From 1830,
every Government had endeavoured to improve their com-
mercial relations with Franco. The late Government had
exerted themselves on this subject, and they wished for a
treaty that would embrace the whole course of commercial
transactions—much, in fact, like the treaty just concluded.
(Hear.) The wine duties had been touched upon. After Mr.
Pitt's treaty a large consumption of wine took place, and
now a much larger and more rapid consumption was antici-
pated. If malt suffered by the introduction of wine it would
be no fiscal misfortune at all, however it might be lamented
on other grounds. Then came the question of coal. He had
some official returns on that subject, and it appeared that
there was such a supply of that important commodity that
it was hardly worth while to calculate how long it would
last. They had not that monopoly in coal which would jus-
tify them in putting on a large expert duty. There was coal
in Belgium and in other countries; an export duty would
materially affect the trade. Tho noble baron said that they
were using free trade in an unfair sense, and that they were
contracting the sphere of indirect taxation. His noble friend
was mistaken if he supposed the proportion between direct
and indirect taxation was greatly altered. They had not con-
tracted the area of indirect taxation. The noble duke here
referred to certain revenue returns in proof of his statement.
Notwithstanding all the reductions made since 1842, the
amount of indirect taxation was six millions more than it
was in that year. It was also an error to suppose that they
were introducing a new system by extending direct taxa-
tion, but the truth was, that indirect taxes amounted to
nearly 75 per cent. of the whole taxation of the country.
There was no ground for apprehending that the Government
had given up the power of imposing Customs' duties at any
future period, should the necessities of the country require
it. The noble lord opposite wished Government to explain
how it was that there came into the treaty a clause founded
on the repeal of the paper duties ; but the noble lord knew
perfectly the danger a Cabinet ran in letting strangers be-
come aware of their intentions ; and therefore they would
not make known to their own negotiators their intentions
with respect to the duties in question. He believed that the
treaty would, independently of its effect upon the French
people, increase the comfort and happiness of his fellow-
countrymen, and tend to the prosperity of the country.
(Hear.)
Earl GREY stated that, having pledged himself to give
noble lords an opportunity of recording their opinion upon
the treaty, he could not acquiesce in the suggestion made
to him by the noble earl opposite, and withdraw the amend-
ment which he had conceived it to be his duty to submit for
the consideration of their lordships.
Their lordships then divided, when the numbers were—
Contents
Non-Contents 3B
Majority
The address was then agreed to, and the house adjourned
at 10 minutes to two o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(YESTERDAY.)
The SPEAKER took tho chair at four o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills were read a third time and pass€d :
Belper Water; Liverpool Corporation Water; Llandaff
and Canton District Markets ; Midland Railway (Station
in St. Panoras, Sze.); Midland Railway (use of railways in
and near London ; Shrewsbury and Welchpool Railway ;
West Somerset Railway; York Improvement, &c. •, Man-
chester and Buxton Road ; and North London Railway.

wade there had Ikeu an enore;oe.a asnouu wt official par- •
sons introduced into the establishment of bankruptcy, and
at the present the expenses of administration of an estate
by the court amounted very nearly, if not quite, to 33 per
cent upon the property administered. (Hear.) It was hardly
possible to bring home to the mind a correct idea of the
enormous amount of error or impropriety of management
which was involved in that administration. He might men-
tion that in ordinary life the coat of collecting debts was
about 5 per cent., while in the case of an unfortunate cre-
ditor whose debt amounted to £6OO, he had to submit in
bankruptcy to a deduction of £2OO, to satisfy the claims
and to provide for the maintexann of persons who
had been appointed by the State to conduct the admi-
nistration of estates taken out of the hands of creditors.
Those were unquestionably evils which standing
alone, would be sufficient to demonstrate the utter
impropriety of the system. Therefore he came before the
house with great confidence as to the necessity of a change;
but he was admonished by the failure of those who had for-
merly attempted the same thing. Th. measure now pre-
sented had been prepared with the utmost knowledge and
labour which he could bestow upon it, but he would ask the
house before coming to a determination upon it to examine
it with minute care, and to take nothing upon trust. He
hoped the house would have a full discussion upon the pro.-
visions of the bill, not only by the legal members, but by
those hen. gentlemen who represented mercantile commur
nities, and then hetrusted theywould pass a measure which
would be in conformity with the views generally of those
' who best understood this important subject. It would be
impossible to understand the measure unless he gave a nar-
rative of the different provisions he proposed to introduce.
The first subject was ene upon which, although not luawil-
) ling, he had been afraid to venture, he meant the subject of
the entire abolition of imprisonment for debt. He would

gladly have made that part of tho present bill, but he was
afraid that it would have encountered much diversity of
opinion. It might, however, be put in another bill, should
the house feel inclined to favour its introduction. There
being in this country two different systems of administra-
tion of bankrupts' estates, viz., bankruptcy and insolvency
an anomaly had arisen purely from accident. The result
was the bankruptcy law partook more of a criminal than a
civil character. No provision was made for the discharge of
an insolvent debtor who was not a trader, and for a long
time, as any one who was conversant with the history of the
country was well aware, our gaols were crowded with insol-
vent debtors, rer wily.. .cy mos.. of aeuvet-
ance. At last a bill was introduced, not founded on any
principle of administration, but suggested merely by com-
passion, for insolvent debtors. By degrees this was en-
larged, until now, when the existing system provided for
the administration of the estates of insolvent debtors, but
only through the medium of their imprisonment. This was
a vice in principle, because the insolvent debtor who acted
with honesty, and give up all his property to his creditors,
was as much entitled, on every principle of the just admi-
nistration of the law, to obtain his discharge without im-
prisonment as the bankrupt was. What had they done ?
They had sent him to prison, to be degraded and incarce-
rated, while at the same time there were no means of dis-
covering those who refused to give up their property to ad-
ministration. He proposed, then, having taken the opinion
of all who had considered the subject, including the most
distinguished men in the other House of Parliament, to
abolish entirely the distinction between insolvency and
bankruptcy, and to make both one law and one course of
procedure. The result would be that the creditor would
have no inducement to send the debtor to prison, as he
would be able to obtain the property without difficulty,
without the necessity of incarceration, whilst, on the other
hand, the fraudulent debtor who wished to remain in prison
without surrender of his property would be defeated in his
object. He proposed that any person committed to prison
for debt should be entitled to present a petition for adjudi-
cation in bankruptcy. In 1849 a law was passed providing
that no debtor could obtain an adjudication in bankruptcy
unless ho could show that his estate would pay ss. in the
pound ; and in 1854 a gross sum of £l5O was substituted.
Still, however, in one year 3,413 debtors applied to the In-
solvent Court, of whom 2,183 were persons called traders,
who were consequently obliged to submit to imprisonment.
He proposed that every insolvent, if ho made a full surren-
der, should be adjudicated a bankrupt, and should not be
obliged to produce any certain sum of money to entitle him
to adjudication. One great feature of the insolvency law
was, that the insolvent after his discharge was still liable to
his creditors. In the case of a fraudulent debtor this was
perfectly immaterial, whilst in the case of an honest man it
was most oppressive. He had therefore provided that this
system should be entirely put an end to, that there should he
no incarceration, and that the adjudication should be final.
Without this it would be better for a man to have no dis-
charge at all, than to have all his futnre exertions para-
lysed by the fear of renewed demands, It was also pro-
vided by this bill that if a man should not have the means
of paying the expenses of adjudication he should be allowed
to plead in forma pauperis, the house being aware that
there was an annual grant from the Consolidated Fund for
&at express purpose. He provided also that remaining 14
days in prison constituted an act of bankruptcy, and that
at the end of that time the bankrupt should be brought up
for adjudication, whether he would or no. His property
would be distributed amongst his creditors, and himself
discharged. This he thought would practically abolish im-
prisonment for debt. (Hear, hear.) He abolished all tech-
nical acts of bankruptcy, by which persons, without being
aware of it, were often entrapped into expense, and substi-
tuted a fow plain and simple rules of procedure. If a man
absconded in debt and remained abroad with a view of de •
feating his creditors, there would be no doubt as to the
manner in which he should be dealt with, as the same rule
should apply to the trader and the non-trader. If he per-
mitted part of his property to be sold under execution, er
procured his own arrest, these were acts of bankruptcy, and
his creditors could summon him before the court. These
were all incontrovertible aid intelligible criteria of insol-
vency. These wore the main provisions by which he pro-
posed to introduce one uniform mode of administration for
bankruptcy and insolvency. He came now to the next evil
of the existing system,a.mely, the manner in which the
administration of the law was provided for, and certainly so
inoperative, so absurd, so singular a compound and admix-
ture of the judicial and administrative functions had pro-
bably never been witnessed in the dispensation of justice.
If they went into the Bankruptcy Court in London, they
would find five commissioners who were all judges, and the
result was that having five heads and five mouths, out of
which issued the law, they had of course every possible
variety of principle, and rule, and mode of administration.
But if they went into the court they found probably also
a meeting of creditors for the choice of assignees, but the
judge who presided, having no judicial functions to dis-
charge, would be sitting amidst all this confusion and hub-
bub, reading the journals of the day. (A laugh.) There
was no necessity for these five administrators of the law.
He had made inquiries, and ho found the time devoted by
these administrators to strictly judicial duties was throe
hours each per week, or fifteen hours per week for the whole
number. Ha should propose to sweep away altogether the
commissioners in London—(hear, hear)—but to leave them
their existing emoluments, and if an emergency arose they
would bo required to give their assistance, and still to be
auxiliary to the administration of the justice of the now
court. The several commissioners received, each of them,
a clear salary of £2,000 a year, and he believed they wore
all appointed in 1832 or 1833. He proposed to substitute in
the place of those commissioners one single judge, so far as
the principal court was concerned, to be on a par in every re-
spect with the judges of the courts of equity and the courts
of common law, and to receive the same emolument, and he
thought there would be no difficulty in finding numbers of
men well qualified for the office, and capable of discharging
with the utmost ability the whole of the duties now per-
formed by the five commissioners. This judge would take
the judicial business properly so called, and there would be
a power of appeal from the country commissioners to him.
He proposed to divide the business of bankruptcy into that
which was purely judicial and that which was partly of a
judicial and partly of an administrative character, which
would be discharged by the judge in chambers. The remain-
ing business would be partly ministerial, and that he pro-
posed should be discharged by the registrars in bankruptcy.
There were in the Bankruptcy Court a number of officers
called registrars, who were barristers of considerable ability,
and who sometimes sat in the room of the commissioners.
The course of procedure proposed was that all undisputed
adjudications of bankruptcy, all meetings of creditors for
the choice of assignees, all private examinations of witnesses
or of the bankrupt, all audit and dividend meetings, and all
examination of accounts, should be conducted by the regis-
trar, filling tie same relation to the judge as was now filled
by the masters in the courts of common law, or by the judge's
clerk in the case of the Master of the Rolls and the Vice-
Chancellors, but with an immediate power of appeal in any
case of controvemy to the judge in chambers. With regard
to the business in the London district, there was, of course,
business to an enormous amount, but a very large portion of
it consisted of matters relating to small estates. He there-
fore proposed, that in the London district there should be
an auxiliary court, for the purpose of dealing with these
small estates. (Hear, hear.) In the London district the court
in Portugal-street, under its denomination of an Assistant
Court to the Court of Bankruptcy, would be continued by
the bill for the purpose of administering the estates of all
bankrupts where the assets did not exceed £3OO. (Hear.)
He wished he could say that he had been able to arrange
the country districts in a manner equally satisfactory. The
district courts of bankruptcy were first established in 1842,
and antecedently to that time we were in the habit of send-
ing down a 6. at in bankruptcy to the local commissioners.
That was a very fruitful source of expense and trouble,
and accordingly the district courts were established.
He believed that if the county court system had ex-
isted in 1842 there would never have been an
establishment of the district courts in bankruptcy. He
must say there was a painful contrast between our system
of bankruptcy and the Scotch system. The latter had ad-
hered to the old original Saxon constitution of the sheriffs'
courts. Ho should have been exceedingly glad to be able
to devise a plan which would satisfactorily remove the
whole of the existing district courts, but it would be im-
possible to do so at the present time. To sweep away the
district courts it would be necessary to deal with the exist-
ing commissioners in the same liberal spirit in which it was
proposed to deal with the London commissioners, and it
would be impossible for the Government to do that with
the present means at their disposal. He had, however, in-
troduced into the bill a provision to the effect that on the
occurrence of any future vacancy, it should be in the
power of her Majesty, by an order in council, to make a new
arrangement and distribution of the district so circum-
stanced, and to appropriate it in such a manner as might he
deemed right in favour of the county courts, and invest the
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be prevented by the jurisdiction boinir iransterred to the
county courts. (Hear.) These were the principal subjects
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, , Le, i,_ q co co t, when it klititild coif., hit() play in Leaden,
wont I be very ,ouch less in point of expense than the con-
stitution of the existing establishments —(hear, hear)—and
therefore, on the ground of expense, there would be a very
considerable gain by the alteration. Under the present
system a person who had once gone into the Court of Bank-
ruptcy could not escape from it until it had adminis-
tered the whole of his estate. This led to very great
inconvenience. A debtor owed a variety of debts, and his
creditors wished to invoke the aid of tke bankruptcy law for
a particular purpose, but they were unable to do so, for when
the debtor was once put within the walls of the court he
could not leave without permitting the whole of the estate
to be wound up and administered. That was a very great
injustice, and therefore he (the right hon. gentleman) was
anxious to propose that if creditors were compelled to resort
to the Court of Bankruptcy for any particular purpose, they
might at any time they pleased, provided that a majority of
the creditors consented, suspend the proceedings in bank-
ruptcy, and take the whole of the estate out of the adminis-
tration of the court, and have recourse to other measures.
(Hear, hear.) Another gain would be obtained by this bill.
At present if an honest trader were in difficulties and wished
to make a disclosure of his affairs to his friends, and lay be-
fore them the account of his estate, and the friends were
desirous of making an arrangement and preventing the
necessity for a bankruptcy, th debtor would put himself in
the power of some particular creditor, who, to pursue a
private end, might throw him into bankruptcy, and thus
defeat any attempt at an amicable arrangement. According
to the plan embodied in the bill, immediately on the adjudi •
cation of bankruptcy a meeting of creditors would be called,
and if a majority of them should think it advisable not to
go on, or only to a limited extent, they would have the
power of coming to a resolution to that effect. The way
this would operate as a protection to and relief of an honest
debtor would be this—he would have the power, without
having committed any act of bankruptcy, of presenting a
petition for an adjudication of bankruptcy. (Hear, hear.)
The creditors might then be called together, and the
debtor would make a proposal for a compromise, and if
it were found to be one they could justly entertain, then
the creditors would have the power of making a conclusive
and binding arrangement, without the possibility of its
being interfered with by any envious person. (Hear, hear.)
In this way he proposed to make the law of bankruptcy,
I and the principles of that law, a part of the law of debtor
and creditor generally—(heart hear)—which it ought to be,
instead of its being a special judicatiese to be purchasers
only at great cost and suffering. (Hear, hear.) The next
point to which he wished to call the attention of the house
was the security proposed by the bill to be given to all these
compositions, assignments, and private arrangements. They
were perfectly well aware that a great stigma had always
attended the very name of bankruptcy. He would refer to
the statistics on the subject, and the house would be sur-
prised to find that the contrast between the number of ad-
judications in bankruptcy and the number of trust deeds
ee.a d..do erettattgement was immense. In 1858, and for
a series of years antecedent, the adjudications in bankruptcy
were not more than one in seven. In 1858, the number of
adjudications was 660, and the number of trust deeds and
deeds of composition and arrangerceset was computed to
have been more than 8,000. Now, what was the reason
that in cases of insolvency creditors were content to put up
with the imperfect relief of a trust deed, where they had no
supervision of the law, no power of examining the debtor,
and no authority to compel an investigation of the accounts?
Why, the answer was, of course, partly the expense, partly
' the inconvenience, and partly the cruel and stringent pro-
visions of the bankruptcy law. All these circumstances in-
duced creditors to prefer the imperfect trust deed to proceed-
ing by adjudication in bankruptcy. (Hear, hear.) But
was it not possible to give him still the benefit of that pre-
ference, and at the same time to give him the whole benefit
of the law of debtor and creditor with regard to his claim
against the bankrupt's estate ? Now he (the Attorney-
General) endeavoured to accomplish that purpose by provi--
sions of the following nature. If a trader was in difficulty
and desired to meet his creditors and they him, by a deed
of composition, a deed of arrangement, or an assignment of
his property, he would be enabled to do so. He would be
secured against adverse persons destroying the whole plan
of arrangement by resorting to an adjudication in bank-
ruptcy, but then the following conditions would be im-
pose upon him. The deed of arrangement or composition
was to be registered in the Court of Bankruptcy; the debtor
was to pay both for the registration and adjudication—and
as soon as the deed was registered in bankruptcy the debtor,
trustees, and creditors would be placed mutually in the same
relative position to one another as if the debtor had been
adjudicated a bankrupt, and the trustees had been duly ap-
pointed trustees of the estate. There would be no public
proceeding, save so far as rublicity might be deemed requi-
site by the creditors, and being requisite, then they might
resort to the Court of Bankruptcy for the personal exami-
nation of any party whom they might desire to examine.
The whole law of bankruptcy therefore would be at once
incorporated in the law with regard to debtor and creditor
under trust deeds and the administration of estates. The
creditors might thus under a deed get tie same benefit as if
there had been adjudication in bankruptcy. The import-
ance of this particular part of the bill in respect to financial
considerations could not be over estimated. At present the
principal course of revenue of the Court of. Bankruptcy was
an injurious and oppressive tax levied in the shape of a per
centage upon all estates brought into the court. By the bill
of 1849 power was given to tax every estate administered in
bankruptcy with a per centage of between ss. per cent, and
£5 per cent. Any rate between those two termini which
the commissioner might deem it proper to inflict upon the
estate, according to tie exigencies of the case, he had the
power of imposing. The result was, that very large es-
tates had of necessity been driven out of the Court of Bank-
ruptcy. They would never go to that court to administer
an estate of £lOO,OOO, £150,000, or £200,000, if there was
any possibility of avoiding it; and the small estates which
went there were subject to a per centage in a less degree,
probably, but yet to an extent which left very little for
those interested in them. With regard to the revenue of
the court, the state of the case was this. In 1858 the per
centage paid into court by the official assignees was
£41,407 125., but in 1859 it was only £29,922, thus show-
ing an immense fading off in the business of the court.
The stamp duties paid upon certain proceedings in 1858
amounted to £21,201, but in 1859 they yielded only
£13,050. In foot the Court of Bankruptcy would have been
in a much worse position, in a financial point of view, if it
had not been for a very fortunate provision made some years
before for the appointment of official assignees, who at once
applied themselves to recovering and getting in assets
which had been lost sight of and neglected under the ante-
cedent administrations of bankruptcy, and who had suc-
ceeded in recovering many hundred of thousands of pounds.
(Hear.) That sum of money was invested in the Bank-
ruptcy Court; and under another provision it was paid
as received by the accountant-general in bankruptcy into
the Bank of England, where there was always upon this
account a large floating balance which, in 1858, yielded an
income to the court of 449,605. But then that fund was
obliged to be drawn upon in order to supply the deficit aris-
ing from the failing business of the court, and accordingly
the interest arising upon that fund in 1859 was only
446,070, showing a diminution of £3,500. Now there were
three principal supplies to meet the wants and expenses of
the court. From a Parliamentary paper, dated the 11th of
February, 1860, it appeared that the whole expenditure of
the court in 1859 amounted to £12,459, which included com-
pensations and retiring annuities to the extent of £20,200
odd. These compensations were the penalties paid for errors
in the constitution of the court in former times, which were
atoned for by the bill of reform in bankruptcy which abo-
lished certain offices. The house would recollect that under
the Testamentary Bill they were obliged to make some pro-
vision for Mr. Moore's annuity of £BOO. There was ano-
ther difficulty, vie., the sinecure officio of one of the
accountants in bankruptcy, which yielded no less a sum
than £7,352 per annum. (Hear.) Now these•compeneations
and retiring annuities had been thrown on the funds of the
court, and he thought the house would agree with him, un-
justly. (Hear.) Why should the present suitors pay for the
errors of former times ? They were encumbered with every
description of burden, but they added to their burdens pay.
nients which ought to be borne by the country itself, seeing
that it was by their predecessors that these errors had been
committed. On his representation, therefore, his right
hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer consented to
transfer, if tho house should approve of it, two sums of
£17,161 and £3,066, making together £20,200, which would
be a relief accorded to the funds of the Court of Bankruptcy.
But they had this consolation, that those charges would
only endure for a few years, though he must confess he
found that sinecurists lived for almost an indefinite period.
(Laughter.) That relief to the funds of the court would
enable him to diminish most considerably the charges made
upon suitors. (Hear, hear.) He proposed that all the fees of
the court should be removed, except the mere entrance fee.
He calculated that there would be a groat increase in the
business of the court. Supposing he succeeded in bringing
into the court 5,000 or 6,000 trust deeds. Upon these he
proposed to attach a tax. Where the estate was under
£l,OOO, a tax of £5 only was to be paid upon registration ;
between £l,OOO and £3,000, £10; and over £3,000, £l5. He
calculated that this tax would yield an income of 460,000 a
year, and he proposed to abrogate all the per centage fees
which were at present levied on estates, and the registrar's
fees, and to reduce the fees payable to the court to the
smallest possible amount, so that the suitors would have to
pay less than perhaps was at present paid by suitors in any
of the courts of Westminster Hall. (Hear, hear.) Another
I tact, at which the house would be surprised, was, that the
Bank of England received as remuneration for keeping the
account of the accountant in bankruptcy no less a sum than
£3,100 in one year, although the quarterly balances
amounted to between £5,000 and 46,000. Those balances,
he thought, were a sufficient remuneration for the manage-
ment of the account—(hear, hear)—and he hoped that some
arrangement would be made to get rid of that charge, thus
giving a still further relief to suitors. The learned Attorney,
General then proceeded to give a description of the details of
the bill. The adjudication would be made immediately on
the petition being presented, but time would be allowed
the bankrupt in case of a contested adjudication
to controvert the conclusion of the court, and in
the meantime precautions would be taken for the immediate
reservation of the property. Ho proposed to abolish the
office of messenger altogether. That functionary discharged
his duty by deputy, to whom he paid 3s. 6d. a-day, and yet
he found that some messengers had received in the shape of
profits sums as large as 41,296, £1,361, and £1,767 a-year,
and sonic had been even more fortunate. (Hear.) The
official assignee would be charged with the custody of the
estate up to the time of the choice of the creditors' assig-
nees, and he proposed that the official assignee should have
power to go to a judge at chambers and get authority to
keep open the trade for the benefit of the creditors, until the
creditors should have determined among themselves what
should be done with it. (Hear, hear.) The principle of
the bill was that the estate of the debtor belonged to the
creditors, and tho whole of the machinery was and ought to
be for the benefit of the creditors exclusively--(hear, hear)
—and they should have the right, by a recognised majority,
of determining to what extent and in what manner it should
be applied. (Hear, hear.) The i elative position of the offi-
cial assignee and the creditors' assignee was a subject on
which there was a great contrariety a opinion. The official
assignees, in their present position were the men to receive
monies and give discharges for them. In one respect this
had been convenient, by creating those largo floating bel-
ances in the Bank, the investment of which had enabled the
Court of Bankruptcy to keep its head above water. But
on the othenhand, it had justly been complained that the
official assignee reduced the creditors' assignee to a mere
cipher, usurping all those functions which the auditor ap-
pointed by the creditors might discharge, He had there-
fore devised something between the two. Ho proposed
that immediately on the choice of the creditors' assignee,
whether they. chose one of themselves or any other per-
son, the official assignee should
.be bound to render to
him a full and particular account of all his receipts
and payments, and hand over to the creditors' assignee
the whale of the property. But then he proposed
that the official assignee should afterwards stand in the
position of the auditor of the creditors' assignee. The ob-
ligation of paying all the monies received into the 13,ank
of England would devolve on the creditors' flfsignee, which
was a proper and neoesaary Ca4tiall. At present the official
assignee was trusted in everything, but he was sorry to say
that several defalcations had been discovered, to the amount
of £llO,OOO or £120,000 altogether, and what others there
might hare been it was impossible to know. He also pro-
posed that the great invention of printing, one 'of the last
things to find its way into the administration of the law

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