The Sun.
London, England, 1832-11-19 00:00:00

The question in this case arose upon the con-
struction of the 128th section of the Bankrupt Act.
The bankrupt had paid exactly 10s. in the pound,
and now prayed the Court under that section of the
Act to order his assignees to pay him the allowance
of 5 per cent., which he contended they were bound
to pay him under these words :—" If the net pro-
duce of his estate shall pay the creditors who have
proved under the commission 10s. in the pound, he
shall be allowed 5 per cent. out of such produce."
The COURT decided that these words, taken in
conjunction with those of the 129th section, where
" shall have been paid" was used, and with the
closing words of the 128th section, which gave the
bankrupt, at the discretion of the Commissioners, a
sum not to exceed 3 per cent. if less than 10s. in
the pound were paid, and with the 7th and Sth
clauses of 5 George ll.,—that looking to these cir-
cumstances, the meaning of the Legislature was not
to give the bankrupt 5 per cent. unless the ultimate
and final payment to the creditors was 10s. in the
pound, and that where 10s. in the pound was not
paid, the 5 per cent. upon that 10s. was to be given
to the bankrupt out of a fund plus the 10s. Per-
haps in this case the proper course would have been
for the Commissioner to have declared a dividend of
less than 10s. in the pound, and to have made the
bankrupt, if he had so thought fit, an allowance of
3 per cent.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

A young man of respectable appearance was
brought before the Lord Mayor under the following
peculiar circumstances :—The constable of Aldgate
watch-house stated that on the preceding night the
prisoner knocked at the watch-house door and said
that he wanted to give himself up, as he had com-
mitted the crime of forgery, and could get no rest
ever since. Witness took the charge of the young
man, who seemed to suffer much uneasiness.
The LORD MAYOR asked the prisoner what the
amount of the sum forged was ? The prisoner said
he had forged art order upon Mr. Cox for 201. in
the name of his father, who was a Captain of Ma-
rines. Fortunately, Mr. Cox had refused to pay the
money, so that no injury was done to any party.
Although the offence was detected, there was no
willingness to prosecute—a circumstance which he
regretted, as the result might have been his removal
to some place where he might not be so miser Able.
The constable said he had his apprehensions about
the state of the young man's mind, as he had found
on the prisoner some gunpowder and balls and the
duplicate of a pistol.
The LORD MAYOR then questioned the prisoner's
aunt, who was crying bitterly at the forlorn condi-
tion of her nephew. She said that her nephew was
a most mild and amiable young man, but that of
late his mother's cruelty to him had given him so
much pain as almost to change his nature. From
the moment of his birth the unnatural parent had
conceived the greatest abhorrence of him, and, like
the execrable mother of Savage the poet, had done
all in her power to accomplish his destruction. She
had succeeded in estranging her husband's affections
from the poor outcast, so that he had nobody in the
world to protect or pity him, except one.
The LORD MAYOR—What could influence the
mother to cast him off? The Aunt—She is my
sister; hut I know of nothing that can extenuate
her offence. He will be entitled to some property
in a short time, and his mother has been at work to
prevent his inheritance. Transportation would, she
thought, have that effect, and she was, therefore,
most anxious that he should subject himself as soon
as possible to that penalty.
The LORD MA-vox—Then he does not live with
his parents ? The Aunt—No ; ever since he was
seven months old he has lived with me. He shall
always share whatever I have. lam sure that he
committed the forgery merely to do that which might
satisfy the hatred his mother bears towards him.
The constable handed to the Lord Mayor a letter
addressed by the prisoner to his father. It contained
the following words, at which his aunt almost
fainted :—" if you have any regard for me, proceed
against me for mercy's sake, and by so doing you
will enable me to escape from my native land—a
land I have been long taught to curse—and in a
foreign clime find the shelter which my home denies
me."

The Loin MAYOR advised the prisoner to hope
for better times, and remonstrate with his father
upon the weakness of yielding to the unfeeling sug-
gestions of his mother.
The aunt said it was quite useless to endeavour
to prevail upon the mother, whatever might be done
with the father.

The prisoner said he had received a good educa-
tion, and was able to support himself without being
an incumberance to his father, who had never ex-
pended a halfpenny upon him.
The LORD MAYOR then discharged the poor
young man.
Thomas Walker, a labouring man, was charged
with having stolen some parcels of lace and other
property, belonging to Mr. Ellenborough, of Milk-
street, and Mr. Mottram, of Old 'Change.
The porters of the two prosecutors were, it ap-
pears, acquainted with the prisoner, and employed him
to assist them in carrying home goods, to the ♦alue
of about 150/. They suddenly missed him at the
corner of King-street, Cheapside. Some days after-
wards the prisoner was stopped at a pawnbroker's
shop, where he had pawned a veil, which was worth
for 55., and soon after offered a lace cap for
pledge.
Daniel Forrester said that the prisoner confessed
to him that he had made away with the goods. Parr
of the goods was found in a field, and some parcels
were traced to sundry pawnbrokers, who had ad-
vanced no more than a few shillings upon p roperty
of considerable value.

Mr. Ellenborough stated that the property he had
lost was worth about 501., but that ten years ago it
would have been worth 1,000/.
The LORD MAYOR asked what caused so frightful
a depreciation ?
Mr. Ellenborough stated that the extraordinary,
the almost incredible improvements in machinery,
and the competition in the French market, resulting
from the free trade system, almost destroyed that
which he followed. He had given 5,200/. for a lace
machine some time ago, but it was immediately su-
perseded by an improved one, and would not now sell
for 200/. He had seen several poor men, to whom
he used to pay 2/. ss. or 2/. 10s. a week, sweeping
the streets at Nottingham, and supported in the
workhouse.
The prisoner said that his poverty had tempted
him to commit the dishonest act.
He was then committed for trial.
BOW-STREET.
A broker, who is much employed in seizing the
goods of people in humble life for rent, was charged
with having stolen a table, the property of Mrs.
Simmons, of Crown-street, Soho. Mrs. Simmons
said she rented a house from a Mr. Avery, at 4s. 6d.
a week. On the 29th of October she was in debt
a week's rent. On the Monday following, during
her absence from home, her house was entered, and
two of her doors having been broken open, a table
was carried away. The same evening she paid her
rent, and she also ascertained that the defendant had
been seen with the table.

v.
A poaceman, named Rickards, said that he wen