The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-08-05 00:00:00

NgW. BANKRUPTCY BILL;

We desire to call the attention of our readers to this
bill which was introduced into the House of 'Com-
mons in the -month of July, and which the Solicitor-
General is endeavouring to drive post-kuste through
Parliament. Verily a most ravenous fit must have seized
upon the Whig-lawyers, and a most liberal fit upon
their patrons, who would so generously throw out fur
their scramble fifty new commissionerships all at once.
We extract the following excellent remarks from the
John Bull :
"To our legal and commercial readers in general—to the
partners in• the great 'agency houses of attorneys and solicitort
in London—to attorneys and solicitors at Manchester, Leeds/
Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, and other such places—to as.;
signees in the country under very oal as well as very new hank.i
ruptcies—to those who may have thought their stewardship::
concluded, and to those with whom it may have just commenced
—to all the present country commissioners of bankrupt—to all
country bankers who may have any dividends or other property
connected with any bankruptcy in their banks—to the numerous
race of accountants all over England and Wales, and to the
public at large, we recommend the perusal of a bill brought into
the House of Commons under the auspices of hit Majesty's
Attorney and Solicitor-General, entitled 'A bill to amend the
laws relating to bankrupts.'
" Be it observed, at starting, that the laws relating to that
subject have five hundred glaring er rorS ou the fare of them, nut
one of which (roes this bill profess to touch. It Commences by•
giving a power to his Majesty to appoint forty or fifty commis-
sioners, as many registrars, as many clerks, and se many official
assignees (all with good salaries no doubt, though the amount is
not vet set out,) who are to go roving about the country to per-
form the duties thereby imposed upon them.
"The Court of Review has been called one 'of small utility:.
but, if its utility be small, of what utility can such a commission
or number of courts be ? The Court of Review can indeed hear
anddfeaculidte is
wantcomplaionft complaints
employment. when
courtsy brought before it : its
chiefut these proposed courts
are not
only to 'hear and docile, but are to go about roving and
fishing for abuses, which they are afterwards destined to cUrrect:
We have heard of a club called the Rovers, who rove to Box
Hill at Epsom race time, and who rove to Henley to fish and eat
mutton-chops at the Red Lion Inn—but the Rover Club will be
a farce to the roving and fishing of these commissioners, clerks;
registrars' and official assignees, with their turtle at Bristol and
Liverpool, and their venison and champagne at other places;
And what in the world is all this for ? 'Who ever asked for such
a commission? who wants such a court? and is not the present
tribunal for country bankruptcies amply sufficient to answer the
exigencies of each case ? hf uot-,--let such a case come to Lon-
don, and be executed in the new court, and not before a judge,
to whom power is given to send any one guilty of a contempt,
(and God only knaves,_ as Mr. Faulkner can tell, what may not
be now-a-days called a contempt,) to any gaol in England or
Wales he pleases. Sitting at Berwick-upon-Tweed he may in-
carcerate the poor devil at Penryn, for the pleasure of the learned
Solicitor-General who represents that place.
"So much for the commissiouers' part of ibis bill, which then
goes on to give the accountants in bankruptcies' clerks an ad-
ditional salary of-£11.410 a year, and provides that in no ease
shall official assignees be liable to costs—so that henceforward
those persons may be as litigious, as officious, as troublesome,
and offensive as they please, (we do not mean to say th;,y are so
now,) and they can in no case be made to pay costs. We trust
we have shown enough to convince those who may read these
remarks, that.this is nota Measure which ought to pass without
some mote consideration than it can have. in this hot weather,,
and at the end of the month of July. With the exception of
two things, it contains not one single amendment of those laws
which it professes to amend—one, the giving commissioners of
bankruptsjurisdiction over equitable as well as legal mom !gages—.
and-the other (which is done in a very bungling way, or rather
not halfdone.) the appointment ofa taxing officer in bankruptcy.
"The bill professes to establish one uniform system for all costs
in bankruptcies; it enables the Lord Chancellor, howeser, to
.appoint ate or mere persons to taxsUch Costs, excepting the costs
.incurred in the Court of Bankruptcy, which, instead of having
one uniform system. is having one or more systems for country
fiats—six different systems in the Court of Ba-nkruptcy—and
seventh system, an appeal by the officer of the Court Review.
This last system is the strictest, and beams harder on the solicitor
than any other system in any other court; but it has the merit,,,
of being most beneficial to the Creditors of bankrupts ; emoi
cannot see why this systeM should oot be the one adopted•
seven
exclusion of Oldie rest. There can be no uniformitisnw I
does this,
different taxing officers in London (not one of wh
the
bill abolish, and from . six of whom, by aboliihirmagi,
) and one or
6th Geo.
c. 16, sec. 14, it takes away the powerof aot:tim:
try costs. Let
more persons (under this new'bill,) t
to If adopted, and appoint
any one of these seven systems, we say, be
well as country, so as try'
one person only to tax all costs, tihn
and truly and se
make the practice everywhere really
would be secured.
are convinced that great atlrtntengat.,...
militant in bankruptcy, we
" Since the appointingo h
chief registrar of the court are not very
believe the duties of the
commissioners
We say, double
1 his salary. and give him. the appoint- •
,00d
11 be -dune than any this b•1'1 1 pro-
noses, or any rovenr,
meat, and much Y're,ommt.
*ssioncrs can effect.'''

----
ImPitovxmo.„r of. THE R18111.E.---We understand that Capt.
Belcher, K.N.
has been employed fur several weeks, by dime_
tion of
, 'he Admiralty, in surve) ing. this coast front Porraby
Point
v northwards.menbera o f t h
e 6 n
corporation
of
Preston deputed for that
purpose had an interview with the captain, at Lytham, when lie
showed them his chart of the Ribble, from Preston to the sea,
upon a setae of three inches to a mile, which is nearly com-
pleted. In answer to several inquiries, Captain Belcher ex-
pressed a very favourable opinion of this river for the purposes
of navigation, anti stated hts readiness to confer with any engi-
neer of eminence who might be appointed to make a report on
the works which- wouldbe required. At the council meeting,
Thursdays a resolution ;vas passed to emplo) Messrs. Stevenson: Son, civil engine Stevenson: •
Edinburgh, fur this purpose.. 14 r.
Stevenson has been for many years engineer to the Commis- .
, .
sioners for the Northern Light-houses, and is well known trout
the extensive works he has planned and executed in England, -:
Scotland; and Ireland, He may Cow be expected here-in a iew.„
days, and the result of his communication with Capt. Belcher
is looked for with great interest. -The soundings of the Ribble
are not yet marked upon the Ehart, but we understand they are
nearly all taken within_ trd banks, and that Captain Belcher
will proceed with the deep soundings as the weather Lay pCI4
mit A...h.. 171.........%.T...