The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-31 00:00:00

PRIVATE BILLS.

Lord REDESDALE drew attention to the standing
os dzrzi relating to private bills, and prnpo,ted several nest
orders which ho believed would economise both time
and money, and facilitate the progress of boza fide
schemes through Parliament, while they would afford
security to the public, and to all persons concerned.
The following are the more important:-
1r There shall be one or more officers of this house, to be
called, ' The Examiners of Standing Orders for Private
Bills,' who shall be appointed by the house.
" A printed copy of every private bill, except estate
bills, name bills, naturalisation and divorce bills, proposed
to be introduced into either House of Parliament, shall be
deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments on
or before the 23d day of December.

" The examination of the private bills which shall have
been duly deposited in the office of the Clerk of the Par-
liaments shall commence on the 18th day of January.
"Any parties shall be entitled to appear and to be heard,
by themselves, their agents and witnesses, upon a memo-
rial addressed to the examiner, complaining of a non-com-
pliance with the standing orders, provided the matter com-
plained of be specifically stated in such memorial, and the
party (if any) who may be specially affected by the non-
compliance with the standing orders have signed such me-
morial and shall not have withdrawn his signature thereto.
" The examiners shall certify whether the standing orders
have or have not been complied with; and when they have
not been complied with, he shall certify the facts upon
which his decision is founded, and any special circum-
stances connected with the case, such certificate to be ad-
(hosed to and deposited in the office of the Clerk of the
Parliaments.

"In all cases of petitions for additional provision in
private bills originating in this house, the examiner shall
give at least two clear days' notice in the office of the Clerk
of the Parliaments of the day on which the same will be
examined ; and he shall report to the house whether the
standing orders have, or have not, been complied with,
and, when they have not been complied with the facts upon
which his decision is founded,' alert any special circum-
stances connected with the case.
" In case the examiner shall feel doubts as to the due
construction of any standing order in its application to a
particular case, be shall make a special report of the facts,
without deciding whether the standing order has, or has
not, been complied with ; and in such case he shall sand
such special report' with the certificate.
" That when any certificate of the examiner, in which
he shall certify that the standing orders have not been
complied with, shall have been referred to the Standing
Order Committee, they shall report to the house whether
such standing orders ought, or ought not, to be dis;,ensed
with, and whether in their opinion the parties should be
permitted to proceed with their bill, or any portion
thereof, and nnder what (if any) conditions,
" That when any special report from the examioers as
to the construction of a standing order shall have been re-
ferred to the Standing Order Committee, they shall deter-
mine, according to their construction of the standing
order, and on the facts stated in such report, whether the
standing orders have or have not been complied with, and
they shall then either report to the house that the stan•l-
ing orders have been complied with, or shall proceed to
consider the question of dispensing with the standing
orders, as the case may be.
"That in all cases in which, from the certificate of the
examiners, or from the decision of the committee upon spe-
cial reports, the question arises whether the standing orders
ought or ought not to be dispensed with, the party praying
for such dispensation may set forth in a written statement
the grounds on which he rests his prayer ; and the opposing
party may also set forth in a written statement the grounds
on which he rests his opposition, both parties confining
themselves strictly to the points reported on by the exa-
miners, or determined by the committee on their consi-
deration of any special report of such examiners.
" That when the committee think fit, they shall hear the
parties in explanation of their written statements, but no
party shall be allowed to travel into any matter that is not
referred to in his statement, such statement to be lodged in
the office of the Clerk of the Parliaments not later than 5
o'clock on the day before the day on which the committee
Is appointed to meet.
" That in the case of a railway bill a sum not less than
S per cent. on the amount of the estimate of expense, and
in case of all other bills a sum not less than 4 per cent, on
the amount of such estimate, shall, previously to the 15th
day of January, be deposited with the Court of Chancery
in England if the work is intended to be done in England,
or with the Court of Chancery in England or the Court of
Exchequer in Scotland if such work is intended to be done
in Scotland, and with the Court of Chancery in Ireland if
such work is intended to be done in Ireland.
"That in cases where the work is to be made out of
money to be raised upon the security of the rates, duties,
or revenue to be created by or to arise under any bill tinder
which no private or personal pecuniary profit or advantage
is to be derived, a declaration stating those facts and set-
ting forth the means by which funds are to be obtained for
executing the work, and signed by the party or agent soli-
citing the bill, together with an estimate of the probable
amount of such rates, duties, or revenue, signed by the
person making the same, may be deposited, and in such
case no deposit shall be required."

Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY expressed his ap
probation generally of the proposed orders, which he
believed were in conformity with th.' recommendations
of a committee of their lordships' house.

. -
Lord CAMPBELL hoped there was nothing in the
amendments to confirm the doctrine lately stated by a
noble friend of his in the other house (Lord J. Russell),
that the House of Commons was the supreme power in
the State because it possessed the power of the parse.
It might as well be said that the Crown was the su-
preme power because it could make war and peace, and
could cede the Isle of Wight to the Emperor of the
French if it chose ; or that their lordships were, because
in their judicial capacity they could rule that the second
son, and not the first, was heir to his father. (Hear.)
The motion was then agreed to.

BARONIES IN ABEYANCE,
Lord REDESDALE gave no►ice of iiis intention to
move the following address in the nex session of Par-
liament

" That an humble address be presented to her Majesty,
showing,—That within the last century several petitions
have been presented to the Crown by persona claiming to
be co-heirs of peerage for many hundred years in abeyance
which petitions have, according to ancient custom, been
referred to the House of Lords to report thereon ; that the
laborious investigations consequenton such reference neces-
sarily occupy much of the time which would otherwise be
devoted to the judicial business of the house, which is
thereby interrupted to the inconvenience of the lords, and
with injury to the suitors; that until the period referred
to the peerages called out of abeyance were few in number
and only in favour of personsinheriting through immediate
and well-known descent from the former holders of the
said peerages ; whereas in many cases of later date that in-
heritance, from the long duration of the abeyance, has be-
come remote, indirect, and generally unknown, until proved
by the evidence before the house ; that the earliest pre-
cedent to he found for cabiug a peerage out of abey-
ane is neither very ancient nor altogether free fr)m
the objection which necessarily attaches to any act done
for the first time to meet a particular case, being that of
the abeyance of which was ter-
the barony of Daspeneer,
minated by King James the First in 160', in order to carry
out the amicable suggestedprrangernentthemselves from the
by the House of
Lards for the purpose of relieving
duty of deciding in favour of en° of the two claimants of
the barony of Abeig venny ; that art undue precedence
sprears to be given to the person in whose ravour an abey-
ance for many generatio• s is trrrninatel over other baron,
of ancient descent inheriting their titles through a long
series of ancestors ;—thus, in the first case refereed to,
when in 1764 an abeyance of 353 years was terminated, the
Lord Botetowrt then summoned sat as third lord only of_
that name, and yet took precedence before the 17th Lord
Audley and the 15th Lord Stourton ;—and humbly pray-
ing her Majesty that her Majesty will be graciously pleased
to consider whether it is expedient to adhere to the esta-
blished custom of referring all petitions of persons claim-
ing peerages to the Home of Lords in any c 'se in which it
shall appear from such petitions, or any report of the At-
torney-General thereon, that the peerage claimed is in
abeyance and has been so for more than years; and
that her Majesty may be further graciously pleased to act

in relation to such peerages in such manner as may appear
expedient to her Majesty."
Lord CAMPBELL said, that the only remedy seemed
to be to declare that after a peerage had been for a cer-
tain number of years in abeyance it should not be
claimed. Otherwise right must be done ; and their lord-
ships could not refuse a claimant his rights by saying
it was inconvenient to do him justice. He did not think
the rights of the peerage would be impaired if it were
laid down that a peerage should be no longer claimed
after it had been 100 years in abeyance.
The motion was then agreed to.
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH
INDIA.

Lord WODEHOITSf in rising, pursuant to notice,
to ask her Majesty's Government their intentions re-
specting the establishment of telegraphic communication
with India, said, that three distinct lines of communi-
cation bad been proposed, of which that from Ragusa to
Corfu and Alexandria seemed free from many of the ole-
jections to which the others were exposed. At the same
time it was desirable that as many of these lines shoulo
ne constructed as possible in order that we might have
several independent means of communication with India.
In the Eastern portions of the route our choice seemed
to lie between two lines—one from Bassora to Kurra-
chee, and the other along the line of the Red Sea. The
efficiency of the first depended upon the Turkish Go-
vernment, and he was not convinced that it would be a
satisfactory mode of communication with India, the
main objection being that the line was at the mercy of
the Arabs who inhabited the wild country through which
it passed. He did not mean to say that the telegraph
was not carried through districts in India where the
tribes were quite as wild, but there was a great difference
between the Governments of Turkey and India. It was
said that the safety of this line might be secured by sub-
sidising the Arab tribes. If the line were being made
by ea English company the Arabs might be subsidised
ny their, but at present the Turkish Government were
construct;og the line, which was an object of jealousy to
the Arabs, and the Ottoman Government might not
have the influence necessary to maintain it. If the
Turkish Government could succeed in making the line
it was very desirable that it should be constructed, yet,
of the two, the line by way of the Red Sea seemed most
likely to form an efficient mode of communication with
India. The objections were principally of an engineer-
ing character. (A Noble Lord—Jeddah 7) The Arabs
on the Red Sea might be unfriendly, but the line would
be carried along the bottom of the sea. The engineer-
ing difficulties in the Red Sea being surmounted he be-
lieved there would be no great difficulty in carrying the
line from the south-east end of the peninsula to Kurra-
chee in Bombay, and this he had no doubt would be
the most satisfactory and secure mode of communicating
with India. The question was, how this line was to be
made t He believed that the pieoper course would be for
the Government to make it at the public expense. They
would then hold in their hands the key of the communi-
cation between India and Europe. It was not very credit-
able to the energy and enterprise of this country and of
the Government that, at a time when telegraphic com-
munication with India was of vital importance to the
interests of this country, not only was no line in course
of construction, bat no project had been adopted which
promised the speedy execution of a line of telegraphic
communication, (Hear.)
The Earl of DONOUGH MORE agreed with the noble
lord in the importance of the subject, but he was unable
to give him any special information that had not been
already laid before Parliament. It was, no doubt, desir-
able that as many lines should be made as possible, but
it was important that there should be one line, and the
question was which line of telegraphic communication
ssi-,h hare could he s scared in the shortest time. When
the line of the Austrian Government from Ragusa to
9.lexandria should be completed there would be a tele-
graphic communication from London to Suez, because a
line now existed between Alexandria and Suez. Unfor-
tunately the Government had not been able to make an
arrangement with the Austrian Government with regard
to this. line. There were some pciiiits in dispute betweee
the two Governments, and no abiolate agreement had yet
been cume to. The telegraphic communication between
Constantinople and Bussorah was to be made by an Eng
lish company, which had obtained the consent and support
of the Ottoman Government. He admitted that portions
of the line might be exposed to the attacks of hostile Arabs;
but he believed that between Constantinople and Mosul
no seen difficulties would be encountered. The danger
lay between Mosul and Bagdad, from the latter of which
Maces it was intended to carry the telegraph in the bed
of the Tigris to Bussora,b, and thence by a submarine
cable through the Persian Gulf t) Kurrachee. For his
own part he was disposed to think ghat the route by the
Persian Gulf was preferable to that by the Red Sea. Ie
the first place, it was much shorter; and the experience
with the Atlantic cable hardly warranted the anticipa•

time that a submarine line could be laid down fer so great
a length as that of the Red Sea. In addition to this the
depth of water in that sea was very various, and iti bed
was full of coral reefs. The Persian Gulf presented none
of these difficulties. There were no great inequalities of
bottom, and no coral reefs • and the gulf was studded
with islands, on which, as they were under the authority
of our ally the Imaum of Muscat, we might easily este-
blish repeating stations, and over which the telegraph
might be carried on poles—an advantage which we
should not possess in the Red Sea. There was under the
consideration of the Government another project—viz.,
to lay a submarine cable from the southern coast of Beg•
land to Gibraltar, from Gibraltar to Malta, and thence
to Alexandria, so that the whole line might be under
our own control. This was a subsidiary project, and one
which c.mlel not be expected to be carried out immedi-
ately ; but under all the circumstances, we should,
within a reasonable p:rziod, have established telegraphic
communication between London and B)mbay and Cal-
cutta.
Lord STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE was glad to
hear that her Majesty's Government intended to encou-
rage, and at far as possible to facilitate, the cons'ruction
of an independent line of telegraphic communication.
The noble lord referred to the engagements made by the
Turkish Government fur the establishment of telegraphic
communication in that country, but as be spoke with his
back to the gallery his remarks were almost entirely in
audible. He was understood to say that it was desirable
that the Government should encourage the construction
of a telegraph by the Red Sea route as we '1 as by that of
Persia, and to impress upon their lordships the import-
ance of our having more than one line of communication
with India.
Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY said that if he was
rightly informed, the Directors of the East India Com-
pany had consented to take ander their own manage-
ment the construction of the submarine line from Bueso-
rah to Kurracbee, and probably the new Indian Govern-
ment would adopt a similar course. For his own
part he was inclined to think that, notwithstanding the
danger from the Arabs, which there was reason to hope
would he diminished by the presence at B gdad of so
energetic a governor as Omar Pasha, the line by the Per-
sian Gulf would be the best of those proposed. At the
same time he agreed with the noble lord that it vsas de-
sirable that we should have more than one line of com-
munication with India. The question then ateeze how we
could best communicate with Alexandria, whether from
Malta or by means of the Austrian line from Ragusa to
Corfu: If he understood the noble earl rightly negotia-
tions were still pending with the Austrian Government
as to our use of the last mentioned line, and nothing had
yet been settled. In the event of the telegraphic line in
the Mediterranean going through British possessions, he
trusted that the entire control would be placed in the
hands of tee English, and not in those of any foreign
Government. If the attempt to lay the electric cable in
the Atlantic again failed, and the Agamemnon should
return home with a sufficient length of wire for the pur-
pose, he would recommend that she should be at once
sent out to lay it down between Malta and Alexandria.
This could be accomplished iu a very economical manner
and he shoull be glad to see such a line in the possession
of her Majesty's Government. It had always seemed to
him a mistake not to make telegraphic communication
part of the postal system of this country. Those lines
could be maintained at a very moderate expense, and
made even to contribute to the national resources.
BANKRUPTCY LAW.

The LORD CHANCELLOR, on rising, according to
notice, to call their lordships' attention to this subject,
said that though there was a very widespread feeling in
favour of some amendment in the law of bankruptcy,
yet the opinions entertained as to the mode in which
that amendment shouldrefboerer
ridbeo wunedreervtaorcikoutsheantdasckonof-
fficting. Any cne, the
reforming this branch of the2awfmust expect to be be-
sieged on all sides by eugsgaesntrinsswyr,orms,parnadctifcraolmmdeenbtaonrds
theorists, frommerchant
ng a
whom we were entitled ti tl ed to
it w
be bearda
asu9cdbaeu creditors,bj
ect.a o f
Underthose circumstanceshis learned friegn'd p
ther
hap, less a matter of surprise
in
Attorney General, in the midsth
that
.his_!tami
multifarious occu-
pations, should have been so long f
on this important question than that in the end h measure
e should
'hive been enabled to produce a bi ll in a form which
might be submitted to their lordships' approval. Nor
was it to be wondered at if, after the measure had
been
prepared by the industry and ability of his learned friend,
those who were to be responsible for it should, while as-
Renting to its leading features, yet object to other—and
those not unimportant—parts of it. In 1849 a bill to
consolidate the bankruptcy law was introduced, and after
the most careful consideration passed under the auspices
of Lord Brougham, to whom the country was greatly
indebted for his services in this direction. Not
more than four years afterwards, however, de-
fects seriously impairing the efficiency of that Ac:
wer3 d moven d in its practical working, and
a commission to inquire into its operation was accord-
ingly appointed in August, 1853. In April, 1854, the
commissioners made their report, recommending various
alterations in the law, some ef which had since then
been carried into effect. Many of their other suggestions,
however, had not yet been adopted, and some of them
were embodied in the bill which he was now about to
lay on the table. He was not presumptu,ti enou4h to
anticipate a complete aepfescence on the part of their
lordships in the bill in its present shape. He invited
friendly, and even hostile, criticism, because the quo,
teen was not a party one, and the earnest desire enter-
tained on all sides must be to make whatever mea7ure
'as ultimately pr.s,ed as perfect as possible for its pur-
pose. Fie now wialFrl 'rather to point out the l-ailing
principles on which the Government meant to proc..eed in
reard to this itnpor tant subj,ct than to ask their lord-
hips to agree to details which were b oth numereu3 and
entitled to matureEconsthratien. Th s bill combined
amendments with consolidation. It was necessary
in all questions of law reform to determine whether
they ought to unite those two objects iu the Berne
hid. It seemed advisable—though his mind was not de-
finitively made up on this point—to pursue the course
recently taken with respect to the law of cepybold. Ma-
terial amendments baying been made in that law, as be
understood, a measure was now in preparation for its
consolidation. His intention was to give their lordships
a raere index of the present bill instead of a minute de-
scription of its detaile. Supposing the question were put

at the onte st , what would be the most desirable amend-
ment of the .b;mkrupt law, and that which would be most
acceptable t o the commercial community, he would refer
their lordshig s for an answer to the important petition
he had lately presented from no fewer than 4,000 mer-
chants and t rankers of the city of London, who put pro
ininfantly fors, and their earnest wish that, some
eaectiou s hould be given to the arrangement 01
debts by liquidation under the superintendence of in-
spectors. In that suggestion lay the principal key to the
alea.sure which he was about to introduce. There were
Provisions in t1a.1.8 bill which would enable creditors te
avoid going throtigh the expensive course of proceeding
in the Bankruptcy Court, in which, as their lordship
knew, there was a per tentage upon the estate of ever 3
insolvent debtor who went into the court, and in which
the creditors had very little power over the proceed-
ings, which were entirely under the control of the official
assignee. By the provisions of this bill either the credi-
tor or the debtor might proceed to the Court of Bank-
ruptcy and there petition for an order with a view to
liquidation. When the petition was presented the debto,
immediately received a protection from the Court, am;
was bound instantly to prepare a schedule of his debts

and assets. A meeting Of creditors was then to be calku

within three or four days, at which meeting the cred►•
tors were to decide whether the estate of the bankrup
should be wound up by means of liquidation, and in whai
manner ; and if three-fourths in value and number of
the creditors agreed that the estate shoull be wound up
in that manner, that agreement should be binding on all
of them. They might then proceed to the Bankruptc%
Court to obtain an order of liquidation in the manna,
%greed upon between them, and to appoint in-
opectora, and the debt, r might be called upon to assist.
The whole matter went on completely under their con-
•rol and management, but they were not confined t,
the particular arrangement which had bean agreed upon,
because if, in the course cf the investigation of the affairs
of the bankrupt, it should ba found that a different ar-

rangement was advisable, then they would change the
arrangement, of course with the consent of the maj.~•
rity of the creditors ; or if the debtor should turn out
to be refractory, or if for any other reason it should be
thought desirable that the affairs should be wound up in

bankruptcy, they might abandon the arrangement alto-
gether and proceed to ask for an adjudication. So that
in this manner the whole affairs of the bankrupt would
be completely within the power of the creditors. There
were other provisions of minute detail which would
enable this machinery to work most completely and satis-
factorily. Those provisions would not in the slightest de-
gree interfere with the mode of winding up the affairs of
an insolvent debtor, which was now very much resorted to,
namely, deeds of arrangement and composition. That he
regarded as a most important feature in this bill. Then
the question arose how were they to deal with non-tradersee
At times a desire had been expressed that all distinc-
tion between traders and non-traders should be abo-
lished, and that both alike should be subject to proceed-
ings in bankruptcy. He had very great doubts whether
it would be desirable to abolish that distinction. As at
present advised, he did not think it would be advisable, but
at the same time be thought it was proper that where a
person who was not in trade had incurred debts which
he was unable to pay, and where he went on wasting
that substance which in justice should be distributed
among his creditors, they ought to have the power of
enforcing a just and hone-t distribution of his effects. It
would accordingly be found that provision was made for
enabling the creditors to compel a liquidation of the
debts of non-trading debtors by means of the machinery
provided with re. pert to traders. But that provision was
guarded in a certain way, and for this reason it ap-
peared to him that it would not be red vi,abie, where i
a debt was merely owing, that the creditor should
go at once to the Bankruptcy Court and insist on the
non-trading debtor being brought into the court and
the whole of his effects being distributed in satisfac-
tion of his debts. That proviiion was therefore this,
guarded :—Where a creditor had a judgment upon
which he could issue execution, or where there had
eeen an order or decree of a court, for the payment
of money, which had been served upon the debtor
and had not been paid at a certain time, then the
creditor might go to the Bankruptcy Court and
present a petition for liquidation and obtain an order, I
whereupon the non-trader was brought within the juris-
diction of the Bankruptcy Court and the machinery of
this liquidation. In that matter he would be compelled
;o de justice to his creditors, which, if he was an honest
man, he would be disposed to do without the necessi,y
of having recourse to these measures. There was also
~his provision--that a person who was not a creditor
might, if he pleased, voluntarily submit himself to the
proceedings of the Bankruptcy Court. There was ano-
ther subject which, as their lordships knew, bad occu-
pied a great deal of public attention,—namely, the pro-
eriety of sense measure for administering in the
Bankruptcy Court the estates of insolvent debtors after
their decease. There would be found in this bill various
clauses woich WE re familiarly known as dead men's clauses.
Tee subject was full of difficulty. It was very difficult
indeed to know under what circumstances it woull be
1 desirable that the Bankruproy Court should have the
1 adininii.tra ioa of the estate of a deceased creditor instead
of the Court of Chancery, which had now jurisdiction
to administer or distribute the estate through the medium
of a creditor's suit. Their lordships were aware that
where there was an adjudication against a debtor io
bankruptcy and he died the next day, the Bankruptcy
Court, ha‘iug possession as it were cf his property,
could administer it after his death. And therefore this
bill: provided, with regard to the effects of a deceased
insolvent debtor, that if there bad been au act of bank-
ruptcy committed a month before his death, and if there
were an application for adjudication within a month of
his death, the Bankruptcy Court should then have the
power of administering his property. There was also in
ibis bill an important provision as to the mod . of deal-
ing with partnerships where a firm became insolvent.
It was proposed to treat the firm itself as a person, and
to allow a fiat in bankruptcy to issue against -he firm in
the same manner in which it might issue agaieat indivi-
dual partners, and to apply to it the system which ex-
isted with regard to corporate and Cpagi•corporate bodies,
so as to enable the creditors to compel individual part-
ners to satisfy the joint liabilities of the firm. At the ,
same time that this was a new system it would not in-
terfere with the old one as to insolvent individual part-
ners, where the firm itself remained insolvent. The sub-
ject of joint-stock companies had of course occupied a
great deal of public attention. Their lordships were
aware that those companies were amenable to the bank-
ruptcy laws, but that the law relating to them could
hardly be deemed a part of the bankruptcy code,
because they were governed by an Act of Parliament
relating exclusively to them. The law provided
for the winding-up of joint-stock companies by the e 'tart
of Chancery, and for the administration of their effects
by the Court of Bankruptcy. There had been a great
contest between the authorities upon that subject, and the
Legislature had endeavoured to retrieve all doubts upon
it by bringing the two streams, as it were, into one re
eeptacle. It was proposed to take away the business of
winding-up from the Court of Chancery, and to confer
it upon the Bankruptcy Court, He believed that would
be deemed upon the whole to be a very de-irable alters- '
tion. It was proposed that the Bankruptcy Court should
have, in addition to its existing powers, all the powers
which existed under the Winding-op Acts, and that
joint-stock companies should have the same facilities
with regard to the liquidation of their debts as was
afforded in the case of debtors and creditors in the man-
ner already mentioned. If his noble and learned friend
Lord Brougham were then in the house, he would pro-
bably say, t‘ What are you going to do with the County
Court judges I Are you going to give them any in-
creased jurisdiction on this subj sot I', He thought that l'
the county courts hardly possessed she machinery which I
rendered it desirable that they should have a more
ample jurisdiction in these matters than they had at
present, and he did not propose, therefore, to throw an y
portion of this bnsiness upon them. In the petition to
which he had already referred, from the merchants and
bankers of London, it was suggested that, all distinctions
between insolvency and bankruptcy should be abolished,
and that traders and non-traders should be subjected to
one common law. He did not know that the matter was
quite ripe for that proposition, but he proposed that the
vacancies which took place in the Insolvent Court as
they occurred should not be filled up. lie believed that
the process of liquidation provided in the bill would reduce
the business of the Couve very considerably, and that in
a short time they might be able to put an end to the
Insolvent Court altogether, one Court being, suffi-
cient for the business it would then have to transact. The
bill further provided that a good deal of the business of
the Bankruptcy Commissioners, being purely of an ad-
ministrative character, should be transacted In chambers,
where it might be conducted more conveniently and lees
expensively than in open court. There were some of the
officers of the court to whom it was necessary to advert.
His noble and learned friend Lord Brougham had been
extremely desirous that the official assignees should be
paid partly by salary and partly by fees, an I ha I ob-
jected alioarethser to their being paid by salary alone.
The bill did not at present touch that question, because
it was quite uncertain what the effect of the proceed-
ings for the liquidation of the affairs of an insolvent
debtor might be, and it was very possible that it might
remove so much of the business from the Bankruptcy
Court as to leave the official assignees without sufficient
emolument from fees. It would be time to consider phis
subject more in detail when they knew exactly what
would be the amount of business. i With respect to the
brokers, they were not appointed under the provisions
of any Act of Parliament, but were selected by each
Commissioner to attend his court, having the duty im-
posed upon them of taking a valuation, in every instance,
of a bankrupt's effects. The valuation of a broker was
a very costly and utterly useless proceeding, and it was
for a .
proposed
,tihuettbi
,i,lnl toei
tahbeerlisuhnidtealtogether,
oanri(tlyto o pro-
videftheinithoy,
moot
eaa,i
sa sanctionble .of theAn
d
inasmuchas
as mightthobs ee
considered
tdresorracvdly
mfris-, and had no legal claim to their ( ffices, th-y could
re not appointed under any Act of Psrlia-
have' no title to compensatien on the abolition of their
officer. There was another matter which Lad led to
ima
tuec—h
Llitigation, a
withnd
roe ns pae -chti ct lio
tit h
ew
ea
isa
snecessary to
n of l e.gis -
certi-
ficates. As the law now stood there acre area classes
of certificates—first, second, and third—which were
awarded arc .rdieg to ',I) suppo ed merits or demerits of
the bankrupt.
Lord CAMPBELL—Do away with them altogether. 1
The LORD CHANCELLOR centinurd,—His noble
and learned friend had anticipated hon. The bill pro-
posed
to do exactly what his noble and learned friend '
had suggested. The commissioners took different views
of what constituted morel delinquency. Then came
appeals to the Lord Chancellor or to the Lord Justices,
and a great amount of time was wasted in considering ,
the kind of certificate which a bankrupt ought to receive.
The bill abolished the distinction. There was only one
other point—but it was a very important one—to which
it was necessary to direct attention, and Gat was wi, h
regard to the offences of bankrupts and ioselverote, and
their punishment. He was astonished to fit}d that the