The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-18 00:00:00

THE BANKRUPTCY BILL.

The House of Commons is to boinvited_to7day.to
disagree with the two most important of the Lords'
alterations of the Bankruptcy Bill. The almost
unanimous feeling of the trading and commercial
classes against the proposed retention of the pre-
sent powers of the official assignees has been too
unmistakeably evinced by petitions most numer-
ously and influentially signed, as well by individual
traders as by the various Chambers of Commerce
throughout the country, to be disregarded ; whilst
the necessity of creating a new Judge to administer,
the new system is fully recognised. There are, hovi-
ever, many other minor but still important, and (as
we must term them) insidious, alterations made in
this bill by the House of Lords, to which we desire
to direct the attention of the House of Commons and
the public at large. On the retrospective clauses,
as they are called, we will not comment, further
than to observe that although it may be reasonable
to apply the new law to old cases, yet care must be
taken that, either under the old or the new law,
these cases may be reached and provided for in
some way. That such a contingency has in other
cases been overlooked by the House of Lords
appears from the fact that they have inserted a
clause which precludes any trader who is not in
prison from petitioning the Bankruptcy Court,
unless assets to the amount of £l5O can be
shown to exist ; so that a numerous class of
small tradesmen and others would thus be en-
tirely debarred of relief under the statute, un-
less some compassionate and generous cre-
ditor could be found to go through the process of a
lawsuit to incarcerate them. The Lords in this 'in-
stance had, forgotten that the Insolvency Courts and
the system there administered were to be abolished ;
but the recalcitrant feeling in their m!nds against
that abolition crops out in many other places. Thus
eight or nine clauses are all intended to reintroduce
for specific purposes and in individual cases the
very same insolvent law which it is the main scope
and purport of the Bill to repeel. The noted ques-
tion of " What's in a name?' never received a more
forcible illustration. The Lords are content that
non.traders shall be called bankrupts instead 'of in-
solvents, provided their persona and estates continue
liable to the same consequences only as under the
present law of insolvency. Another class of altera-
tions by the Lords consists of minute verbal changes,
which might be hoped to pass unnoticed, but which
in reality neutralise or defeat the whole effect and
meaning of the clauses in which they occur. Thus the
Bill provided that in all cases an estate at the credi-
tors' wish should be transferred to the County Court,
where it might be woundup with greater celerity and
economy; but the Lords, by substituting the word
" may" for" shall," have practically given the Court
of Bankruptcy the power of over-riding the wishes
and resolutions of the creditors. A similar substitu-
tion of words has left it within the option of the
present Bankruptcy Commissioners whether they
will transact any business at chambers or not';
and as these officials would not unnaturally be dis-
inclined to depart in any particular from a
system with which they are thoroughly familiar,
and in the practice of which many of them have
grown grey, the hopes of those who anticipated
a vast saving of time and expense from the intro-
duction into Bankruptcy of Chamber practice will
be in all probability entirely frustrated if this
alteration be allowed to remain in the bill. Again,
with regard to trust deeds, the bill had made three
most valuable and important. changes in the law,
by which business would have been facilitated and
litigation avoided. A majority in value of a man's
creditors might resolve to accept part of his property
instead of the whole, and upon receiving that part
might release him from his existing debts and lia-
bilities by executing a deed, a form of which was
given by the act, so that no cavil might hereafter
bo entertained as to its validity. But the House of
Lords think that creditors should not be allowed
to make such an arrangement, and accordingly,
by the elision and insertion of sundry little words,
they would propose that the majority must be in
number and value, so that creditors to the amount
of £lO should have as much voice in the matter as
creditors to the amount of £l,OOO ; that the whole
of a debtor's property, even down to the wearing
apparel of himself and his family, should be given
up ; and that there should be no form of deed, in order
that dissentient creditors may be able to call in pro-
fessional ingenuity to upset the whole arrangement.
At present it is notorious that small creditors do re-
sist these arrangements, until, to obviate their op-
position, they are paid in full; that it is practically
impossible and theoretically undesirable that the
whole of a man's effects should be handed over
to his creditors, especially if they are wil-
ing to take less; and that legal objections to these
deeds are the usual resource of a defeated yet un-
convinced minority of small creditors ; and we trust
that here also the Commons will disagree with the
Lords' " amendments." . One whimsical " amend-
ment" remains to be noticed—the Bankruptcy Com-
missioners are not to be allowed to try a bankrupt
for misdemeanour unless he consent to their juris-
diation. If a criminal in bankruptcy is to be really
allowed to choose his own tribunal, we imagine that
he would (especially if a non-trader) prefer the
House of Lords. With the exception, perhaps, of a
clause allowing a proof for premiums upon policies
of insurance, we have been unable to discover any
one single alteration made by the House of Lords
in this bill that is worthy to be called an "amend-
ment ;" and we believe that the House of Commons,
in resisting (with that exception) all the so-called
amendments would find itself backed and supported
by an amount of public opinion which the Upper
House would not be able to gainsay or resist. The
leading objects of this bill were to give to creditors
greater facilities in legal arrangements with their
debtor, and greater control over the debtor's estate,
or such part of it as they might think fit to accept ;
and also to cheapen, simplify, render uniform, and
Otherwise improve, the realisation and distribution
of that estate, when necessary, by the Court of
Bankruptcy. The country will have no difficulty
in determining which branch of the Legislature has
adhered most faithfully to these objects, of which
the legal and commercial soundness is undeniable
and undenied.—Daily .News.

THIS DAY'S MARKETS.

CORN EXCHANGE.

- -
IMTERIAL WEEKLY AVERAGES. Wheat, 508 Od;
barley, 30s 4d ; oats, 24s 6d ;: rye, 33s Od ; beans, 42s
4d ; and peas, 42s Od.
THE SIX WEEKS' AVERAGES. ^ Wheat, 52s 7d ;
barley, 32s 5d ; oats, 25s 5d ; rye, 35s 5d ; beans, 43s lld ;
peas, 40s ld.
ENGLISH GRAIN SOLD LAST WEEK.—Wheat, 51,467;
barley, 1,093 ; oats, 2,106 ; rye, 18 ; beans, 1,418 ;
27 quarters.

METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET.
Our market to-day was but moderately supplied with
boasts, which moved off steadily, at fully Monday's cur-
rency. A few very superior Scots and • crosses have
realised ss. 2d. per Blbs. The show of sheep was tolerably
good. Prime Downs and half-breds commanded a ready
sale at, in some few instances, a slight advance in the quo-
tations. Other breeds were a slow inquiry, at late rates. A.
few very superior lambs realised 6s. 4d. per 8113 c, but in-
ferior breeds were a dull inquiry. We have to report a
heavy sale for calves, at the late decline in value. Pigs
and mulch Cowq were very dull, on former terms.