The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-22 00:00:00

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facture of coarse kinds adapted for wrapping or other
ordinary purposes.*At-present much water power, ea.:„
i skill, and labour are thrown away by the increasing ten-
dency of the trade to accumulate in a few ha ,ds. Take
away the duty, and you open the manufacture, opening
alsa hthidreds of small mills in the 'quiet valleys 'and on
the clear streams of'the midland and southern counties.
One hat only to look at one of these ruinous mills, to sea
the old men who worked in them half their lives and hear
their sad story, to feel the excessive hardship of the duty
under which these mills were gradually impoverished and
crippled, and finally brought to a standstill, while all oth,r
tradts have been continually assisted by the Legislature.
We c,nnot doubt that a majority of the gouge of Com-
-11:1013 hasmade trp its mind that this is only a question of
house may
time. As such we regard it; but we really think the
reasonably dc,cline to do, more for the promotion
of literature and diffusion- of knowledge till it has tsken
off the tax which is not only an obstacle and a discourage-
ment, but a positive penalty on those undertakings.

TUE _BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY

LAWS.

(Prom the. Daily News )
Few subjects in a mercantile community are of greater
importance than right regulation of the Laws affecting
BankruptcY and Insolvensy. To the 'great reproach of
this country there is scarcely any portion of • our law
mercantile more confused. in its rules, or more ins
perfect in • its administration, than this. So costly
and operose is the prooess of winding up an estate
in. Bankruptcy, that it is only in extreme cases, and
then with the greatest reluctance, that our mercantile
classed can be induced to resort to the constituted tribu-
nals. This state of things has recently led to an influential
and combined movement on the part of the various Cham-
bers of Commerce throughout the country, to urge on the
'Legislature the pressing necessity for vent-naafis reconstrac-
tion of the whole system of the kw attecting Bankruptcy
and Insolvency. Last January year a meeting of delegates
from all the more important mercantile bodies in the pro-
vinces took place in London, under the auspices of Lord
Breughaar ; the subject was renewed last October at the
Social,Seience Meeting at Birmingham; and since that
period the Law Amendment Society has been assiduously
engaged in framing a bill for the purpose of carrying out
the views indicated by so inflential a concurrenee of mer-
cantile opinion. Lord J. Russell, having been selected as
the President of the Section of Law and Jurisprudence at
the Birmingham meeting, has the charge of the measure
thus prepared, and has given notice- of his intention
to introdu:e it to the house to-night. A kindred measure
on the same subject was in preparation by the Board of
Trade under the late Government, and terms, it is under-
stood, the groundwork of the bill which Lord Chelmsford,
on behalf of the present Government, has pledged himself
to bring forward in the Upper House.
At the present period of the session, and in the existing
state of public business, it is not to be supposed that any
measure on the subject can this year pass into law. The
matter is not one to be hastily dealt with. It is eminently
desirable that.before the principles of legislation are finally
settled, every suggestion should be carefully sifted and
maturely weighed. It is hardly lass desirable that when
the principles are agreed upon the greatest care should be
taken in clothing them with legislative expression which
shall -be at once succinct and comprehensive, scientific and
practical. Thu most deliberate attention of the best chosen
Select Committee wilt be well bestowed on a matter, the
complexity of which is very great, and the importance of
which it would be dilEcult to overrate. Under these cir-
cumstauces it might have been at onee referred to the
same Select Committee.

It is t be expected that in both measures due attention
has been given to-the important point of-separating the
administrative from the adjudicative department of Bank- -
ruptcy. The formality of a court, the apparatus of ex-
amination and cross-examination, the presence of counsel
and solicitors, axe embarrassments, not helps, when the
object simply is to marshal crelitore and ascertain assets,
to prove debts and assess liabilities All this portion of the
work is best performed by men of business, assisted by pro-
fessional accountants. The forms and technicalities of law
are here merelyimpediments. It is different where questions
arise‘as to the nature of the Bankrupt's or Insolvent's
conduct. To ascertain whether;wand. in what degree,
the trading has been reckless, or the debts fraudulently
contracted to inquire whether books have been ill kept
or not kept at all; whether all the preperty has,heen given
up, or some. of it wilfully withheld from the creditors—
questions snch as these fall within the proper province of
a judge. They are best dealt with by a legally trained
mind accustomed to Weigh evidence and apportion punish-
ment to of delinqUency.
Another very important point will be to diminish the
present enormous costliness of the courts. This is a part
of the ease with which the public is already only too fami-
liar. Any scheme professing to be an improvement, will
be a complete failure,.bnless it involves a:moat thorough-
going change in this respect.
A third and very important 'object will ba to do away
-with the present ungrounded separation of mercantile and
non-mercantile insolvents into two classes, amenable to
different laws, and cognisable in different courts. To those
who are inclined to believe that laws
~Elre madi for law
yens—not for the public—the present condition of the two
separate jurisdictions of bankruptcy and insolvency un-
doubtedly affords a very plausible ground to go upon.
Bankruptcy Commissioners awl Insolvency Commis-
signers ; Basinghall-street and Portugal-street ; a long
consolidation statute relating solely to insolvent traders ;
a mass of conflicting and unintelligible acts relating
to insolvent non-traders ; prisenars acts and protection
acts; petitions, and schedules, and adjudications—
combine to create a chaos of hicanery which seems
cunningly devised for the especial profit of practi-
tioners and the general fleecing and bewilderment of the
public, It is a sine qua non of any measure assuming to
be satisfactory that it shall at once and for ever put an
end to all-this afflictive dispensation of legal nonsense, by
abolishing all distinction between Bankruptcy and Insol-
vency, as far as regards procedure and methods of adjudi-
cation: - -

Among the questions which will require mature consi-
deration ie that relating to the tribunals in which the trial
of provincial b tukruptcies shall be vested. All cases of
Insolvency arising beyond the limit of tho metropolitan
district are now tried, and not unsatisfactorily tried, in
the provincial County Courts. The addition of bank-
ruptcy cases, judging by the numbers now tried before
the county commissioners, would not form a very formid-
able addition to the labours of the County Court Judges ;
but it has been doubted whether the County Courts, as at
present constituted, supply adequate machinery for the
despatch of bankruptcy business.
Supposing, however, the distinction already referred to
between the administrative and j.tdicial functions of bank-
ruptcy to be properly carried out, the principal ground for
doubting the adequacy of the County Courts, in this re-
spect, would be at once disposed of. For all which pro-
perly constitutes the judicial functions of bankruptcy the
County Courts are at least as well fitted as they are for
exercising their proseutjtirisdiotion in insolvency. These;
however, awl many other questions of the 'like kind, are
matters not to be settled off-hand. It is better to wait
another s ssion for a really efficient and well-matured
measure, than to run the risk, by hasty or ill-considered
legislation, of producing change without securing im-
provement.

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