The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-11-14 00:00:00

weeks afte; is in receipt, from his father, of a loan of
£l,OOO, obtained, according to his representation, to ease
him from debt, and not with a view to composition, and
dealt unfairly with his present creditors in keeping up
the debt of £1,600 to his father, of which the £l,OOO
before mentioned formed a part ; next, that he was
not authorised, by the state of his finances, in con-
tinuing the payment, for seven years, of interest upon
that debt; and thirdly, that by assent to at least
the representation made by Mr. W. Atherton, on dis-
counting a bill drawn by Mr. Atherton upon the
bankrupt for £1,200, to the effect that he (Atherton) had
employed the bankrupt as his broker, and that the bank-
rupt then had about £2,000 worth of property of Ather-
ton's in his bands, he had led Mr. Lister, on the part of
the Liverpool Union Banking Company, to suppose that
he was broker, and not a principal, and had thus led to
credit being given when it would otherwise have been
withheld. Mr. Evans, on the part of the bankrupt, made
objection to the opposition, as being a solitary one, and
conducted in spite of the opinion of the body of the cre-
ditors being favourable to the bankrupt ; but it is ob-
servable that, of the seven creditors who have at present
proved, the bank, represented by Mr. Lister, is the largest
creditor; and that two other creditors have sums amount-
ing together to less than £2O; and the third is, I believe,
the father of the bankrupt, who, though he has abandoned
all proof for the £1,500 before mentioned, has proved as
representing the Norwich Equitable Insurance Company.
I consider, however, that the assignee has only discharged
his duty in investigating, in this court, the transactions
of which he complained, the circumstances of which Mr.
Lister states to have been as fellows :—That in February
last Mr. Atherton applied to him to discount a bill drawn
by himself, and accepted by the bankrupt, for £1,200 ; that he
hiscounted it upon Atherton's statement that the bankrupt
was his broker, and held about £2,000 worth of his property
in his hands; and that about ten days or a fortnight after
discounting the £1,200 bill, he had a conversation with
the bankrupt, and told him that the bank held his
acceptance for £1,200, drawn by Atherton, who had made
him the before-mentioned representation as to the fact of
his being Atherton's broker, and having that amount of
Atherton's property in his hands ; and that he (the bank-
rupt) said " he had," or used words to that effect ; that he
(Mr. Lister) then remarked that the acceptance was pay-
able at Smith, Payne, and Smith's, who were not bankers
of the Liverpool Union Bank, and that bank would retain
the bill, but that when he (the bankrupt) had sold enough
to pay it, would give him his bill, and rebate interest if
the bill should then be due. Mr. Lister further stated,
that he understood Mr. Skipper to assent to this. The
bill was not paid ; but on the 16th of May the bankrupt
paid to the bank £7OO, a fresh bill being drawn by Ather-
ton, and accepted by the bankrupt for £6OO, was given to the
bank upon the retiring of the bill for £1,200. This bill for
£6OO is the one proved upon by Mr. Lister, as repre-
senting the Liverpool Union Banking Company. Now,
the evidence and the argument on behalf of the bank-
rupt are to the effect that the £6OO paid to the bank in
May about covered the amount of Atherton's money, or
property, then in the bankrupt's hands ; and that if the
accounts between them had been closed at the time when
the bill for £1,200 was given to Mr. Skipper, he would have
owed Mr. Atherton £2,000. [Having detailed the various
transactions, in course of which this was endeavoured to be
shown, his Honour continued.] On this point I have
thought it right to obtain the assistance of the official
assignee, in the examination of the bankrupt's books, and
three parcels of Indian Corn are found to have been pur-
chased on Atherton's account, some time before February
last ; and this is the precise quantity afterwards sold to the
Messrs. Schroeder, on Atherton's account, upon which
there was a surplus of £507 16s. 3d., subject to deduction
for interest and charges. Having referred and considered
these details, I am of opinion that in February last, when'
the bill for £1,200 was given, 'there existed some ground
for the estimate formed by Mr. Atherton, and afterwards
adopted by the bankrupt, of the then value of the bank-
rupt's liabilities, as broker to Atherton, and as his princi-
pal, assuming sales made and account to be rendered ;
but I am also of opinion that there was a want of candour
on the part of the bankrupt, in his communication with
Mr. Lister, as he stated, in answer to Mr. Lister's
representation of what he had heard from Mr. Atherton,
'that as regarded the purchase from Mr. Gardner (of 9,400
'bushels of Wheat), £3,900 had to be paid before any pro-
fit could be realised, as that 'might have been considered
by him an improper disclosure of his principal's affairs ; if
he had said, " I hold, as trustee for a vendor as well as in my
capacity as broker, to Mr. Atherton," Mr. Lister would not
then probably have made the arrangement referred to byhim,
and the bank might have received either for the bankrupt
or for Mr. Atherton the £6OO in respect of which they are
now creditors. As to the Indian corn transaction, also,
there was probably, in 'February last, purchase money to
be paid, amounting nearly to £3,500, before any profit
could be realised ; but of that there is no precise evidence
in the case. I don't, however, consider that the conceal-
ment which has occurred of the actual state of these corn
transactions, looking at the time when the conversation
with Mr. Lister took place, that is, after the discounting
of the bill took place, was with any fraudulent intention
on the part of Mr. Skipper. With respect to the two
heads of objection counected.with the debt of £1,500 to
Mr. Skipper's father, I .think it unnecessary to say more
as to the first than that the absence of all proof of debt
on the part of the father, and the surrender of the notes
held by him on that amount to the official assignee, have
relieved the estate from any possible diminution on that
score; but, as to the second objection, which refers to the
payment of interest, I .cannot but hold the bankitupt to
have been culpable in making the payment of £lOO to his
father on the 14th June last, for arrears due to the month
of December previous, his failure having occurred on the
24th of June, just ten days after ; and being, as he
sais, in part occasioned by • the difficulties in which
Mr. Atherton was placed, whose actual or impending
loss upon transactions in which the bankrupt had
been employed as broker must have been known to the
latter. Having expressed that opinion, andconsideringthat
the petition in this case was not presented until the Ist of
September, I do not think fit,, upon this last money
transaction, to suspend the bankrupt's certificate ; but
assenting to what has been said by Mr. Evans with re-
gard to the mode in which Mr. Skipper's books have been
kept, and with regard to the absence of accommodation
bills—that crying evil of our commercial system—l shall
now award him a certificate of the second class.
Rs MYERS AND MYERB.—The bankrupts, Thomas and
William Myers, were coal merchants, carrying on business
at Parkgate and Birkenhead ; and, the meeting was on the
question of certificate, which was applied for by Mr.
Bretherton, on behalf of the bankrupt, and opposed by
Mr. Dodge, on behalf of Mr. Stock, a principal creditor,
and .by Mr. Harvey, on behalf of the Bryn-y-Mally coal
company.
One of the bankrupts (William Myers) was first ex-
amined by Mr. Dodge, as follows commenced my
dealings with Mr. Stock in February or March, 1853, and
they ended in June or July the same year. On the 26th
of May, 1853, I owed Mr. Stock the sum of £176 odd.
After that date I contracted a further debt of about £96
with Mr: Stock. In the course of our dealing with him
we paid him no money. The letter produced is in my
handwriting. [The letter, which was dated May 26th,
1853, stated, in answer to a pressing demand for the pay-
ment of an account, that the " establishment. was a young
one, but.that it was in a healthy state ; that the • proprie-
tors gave Six months' credit in Birkenhead, and that
therefore their manager could not press,eustomers before
the end of the half-year, when a large .amount of money
would come in ; and, as they had made a promise, the
creditor in question might rest assured •that his account
should receive their best attention."] At the time I
wrote that letter (continued the bankrupt) I. believed the
business to be in a healthy state. I had not then an
account of what we owed, and of what was owing to
us. I left it to Wilkes (the manager). J mean by
the business being in a healthy state, that if all was
cleared off we could pay 20s. in the pound. believe
I did look into the state of my affairs towards 'the end
of June, 1853, at _which time the concern was not in
a healthy state. It could not pay 20s. in the pound. I
cannot say how muchshort ; but I calculated .about 10s.
I cannot say whether it was before or after. the 24th of
June ; but I should _think it would be after that date.
After referring to my books, I find that I received the
last delivery of goods from Mr. Stock about June the 14th,
the amount being 419 16s. After further reference, I
find that there was a later delivery of a boat-load of coals,
to the amount of £25 2s. ed. ; and on the 24th of June
there was coal shipped by.the same vessel, to the amount
of £lO 2s. 6d. The coals for £lO 2s. 6d. would .be
shipped at St. Helen's on the 24th, and we should Pot
receive them at Parkgate unto the 26th or 27th. It was
after the arrival of the coals that we looked into our
affairs. The warrant of attorney was given to Mr. Wilkes
on the 30th of March
,previously, and judgment avas
entered in August.
Examined by Mr. Bretherton.—Mr. Stock's solicitor
made his first application for their account, I think, on the
31st of August. In consequence of a letter received then,
we saw the solicitor, and, to the best of our ability, we
give him.a statement of our affairs, telling him the exact
position we were in. We made an offer to compromise,
the amount we mentioned being equal, I should think, to
10s. in the pound. It was not entertained. No offer was
submitted tons on his behalf. In December, 1853, Mr.
Dodge agreed to take ss. in the pound, and £5 for expen-
ses, but he required us to give them judgment for the
whole amount of the debt, which I refused to do.
Re-examined by Mr. Dodge.—We employed one solicitor
—others were employed, but not by ourselves. My father
employed Mr. Whitley, his own attorney. Our then
solicitor, Mr. Gill, proposed a composition in September.
It was to be cash to equal, or nearly so, to 10s. in the
pound. We did not place any cash in the hands of Mr.
• +-- 4rs Mr Striolr bnA +ha ernivi

been a bill on my lather. w e
in bankruptcy early in Septemb(

1853 ; after which, 1
offer to Mr. Stock.

We were not served with any demand in bankruptcy until
after the offer by Mr. Gill had been gone off. I think
Mr. Gill stated that one (Mr. Dodge) wanted more than
he offered, and also a large amount for costs—£l2 or £l5.
Examined by Mr. Bretherton.—When I came per-
sonally to inquire, I found that Mr. Dodge's costs were

only £o, and that was after proceedings in bankruptcy.
By Mr. Harvey, on behalf of the Bryn-y-Mally coal
company.---The capital I brought in is variously stated at
£175, £65, and another sum. In the balance sheet filed
in July, it is put down at £6OO. The real capital I intro-
duced into the concern, from the commencement of the

close, Gras £175.,
glary from Cron

are the petitioning creditors.
The object of our wishing a petition to be presented was
to get rid of two creditors who were pressing us. [Mr.
Harvpv oystrri;,,,,l +ll. I,,,,lrrtint, at ureat length for the

purpose or a!
with in real

sne uanKrupu
g that they had commenced business
) capital at all; that they panaged