Star.
London, England, 1821-09-15 00:00:00

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT.

Rickard Austin was brought up to be heard on his
petition to be discharged. The insolvent stated, that
he had been discharged under the Act in the month
of March last, and that he was now in prison at the
suit of creditors whom he had omitted to name in his
former schedule, in consequence of having commit-
ted his case to the care of a number of persons in the
King's Bench Prison, who called themselves the In-
solvent Committee, on Whose judgment he confided.
The Corny said, it was not to be endured, that a
man who had sworn to his schedule, should now be
allowed to say it did not contain the names of several
of the creditors, because he had relied on persons
who were not authorised to act in the business in
which he had employed them. The Court could not
give a person who had so conducted himself any re-
lief, but must dismiss his petition.
William Thompson, a hair-dresser, was opposed by
Clement, a milkman, who stated, that, without hav-
ing any other knowledge of the insolvent than serving
him with milk, he went bail for him in an action for
debt, for £2.5 ; that the insolvent did not render, but
.ran away : " In consequence of which (said the poor
milkman) everything I had in the world was sold to
pay his debt, and I have been a ruined man ever since."
The insolvent, in his defence, said, that before the
time of surrendering in discharge of his bail, he made
an agreement with his creditor to pay by instalments,
which he conceived exonerated his bail ; that he
changed his residence in the hope of improving his
business ; and that when he heard his bail had been
come ori, he assigned over debts to the amount of the
damage.
The milkman admitted that the insolvent had made
an assignment of what he called debts, but the people
all dented owing anything, except one who paid him
eighteen shillings.
• The Counr said, nothing could be more unprin-
cipled and cruel than the insolvent's conluct ; and,
had they power to punish him in proportion to his
offence, it should certainly be exerted ; but the Act
only gave the power in this case of adjudging that he
, should not be discharged until he should have been six
I months in prison from the date of filing his petition.

FnucTuATIOX OF PROPiRTY.—The Middleton estate
in Norfolk was purchased about •f 0 years ago for
£25,000; in the year 1812, £140,000 were refused
for it. An estate in Worcestershire, called Sheriffs
Linch, near Evesham, was purchased after the year
1800, for £16,000 ; the estate consists of 1,100 acres ;
the Gentleman who purchased it was not then a man
of property, and. he borrowed the money to pay for
it from two neighbouring Banks. In the course of
three or four years, he sold 400 acres for £B,OOO, and
the remaining 700 acres he sold to a Gentleman
whom he met on the top of a stage coach ; he took
him home, and the following morning he signed the
contract, to give him £30,000 for this property ; the
buyer being unable to pay for it, came to London,
and resold it to a Solicitor at Colchester for a profit
of £2,000; that Solicitor being also unable to pay
for it, borrowed money sufficient to do so, and paid
the middle buyer his £2,000 profit, and the original
buyer, whom it had only cost £B,OOO, C. 30,000 ;
the estate was let for a short time for £1,400 per
annum, and was put up at Garraway's previous to
the failure of the Attorney at Colchester, who had
purchased it, in 1812, by Mr. Farebrother, who re-
fused £33,000 for it; it afterwards fell into the
hands of the first mortgagee, who had lent £26,000 on
it ; the tenant having failed, and the estate being en-
tirely out of cultivation, Mr. larebrother again put
it up at Garraway's, about two years since, subject to
a mortgage of £13,000; a stranger who was present
made a bidding of £lOO, and it was sold to him for
£13,100.
BONAPARTE, when Emperor of France, ordered
letter-boxes to be fitted up in all the churches of
Paris, where the virtuous poor, without their delicacy
being wounded, could, as they passed, deposit a note
expressive of their wants. These boxes were only
opened by the higher clergy, who were sworn to
secresy ; and the wants of the parties were thus re-
lieved without any of the humiliating circumstances
of a public application.