THE BANKRUPTCY LAW

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2177, 16 June 1914, Page 5

THE BANKRUPTCY LAW

PROPOSED CHANGES CENTRAL COMMERCE CHAMBER. Bankruptcy law was discussed at yesterday's meeting of the. Council of the Wellington; ContrarChamber of Commorco, when tho special committee set ■up to consider the.question of amending tho present Act presented its report, through its chairman (Mr. C. M.' Luke). ... List of Changes Desired. Tho report stated that the following recommendation was made at a committee meeting held on Monday, Juno "That it bo a recommendation to the council that rt conference in connection with . tho Bankruptcy Act bo arranged with the Welling- _ ton Chamber of Commerce, tho ' ' New. Zealand Society of Accountants, and tho Incorporated Institute of Accountants of New Zealand; with' a view to taking joint action throughout New' Zealand' to urge the Governflient to amend the. ' Bankruptcy Act on the lines recommended by tho 1009 conference of New Zealand Chambers of Commerco." , Tho recommendations referred to and passed by tho 1909 conference were as follow:— ' That in the opinion of ihis conference, an amendment of the existing bankruptcy law is' necessary. That a system providing for a central control of all insolvency business is of fundamental importance. That the present limited number of official assignees and their deputies should be replaced by approved and registered trado assignees, who . shall have .statutory polvei's, and be subject to the central control mentioned above. • That in the interests of commercial morality, and for the wurposo oi record,'it is desirable that all assignments for the t benefit. of credi,tors and insolvencies should bo registered, aiid that a complete record bo kept at tho central point

<>f control. That legislation should provide for tho compulsory registration of all instruments, including bailments. That a creditor who takes possession of chattels an unregistered instniirient within i- throe months prior to adjudication of bankruptcy should be mado to Sur- - render, for tho benefit of tho debtor's .estate, the goods so seized, or the nroceeds of tho sale thereof. That, where a debtor, resides in one part of the Dominion and absconds, tho creditor may file a petition in that portion of the Dominion whero tho creditor resides. That public examinations be done away with, and statements mftdo at examirtntions beforo tho assignee-used for all purposes. That it is "desirable that, the penal clauses of tho Act.should specifically name such books of account as shall be considered an irreducible minimum for anyporson'to keep. ' That tho penal section of : the Act should include offences irrespective of whether the ■ debtor was made bankrupt or not. ~ . That tho landlord's Preferential claim for rent bo abolished or to a lesser period. That insolvent estates of deceased per-

sows bo ■ administered by officers

admihis i teri,iig,tlip laws, and"no't"fey -tlie Puh'lic'rTrtisfeo. .-. v That the costs of bringing an absconding debtor back to New Zealand, be borno by the Crown j the estate to bear an added amount in such cases. , \ ' That +he abive resolutions be forward-

Ed to the Hon. the Minister of i Justice, and that hn he respectfully . reqti"st<vl In introduce an amend- " ing Bill during next session of Parliament to givo effect to the Same. The Changes Discussed. In presenting the report, Mr. Luke stated that ho considered the matter was_ one of great importance to the business community. The committee setup by the council had. given the matter very careful consideration, and had formed the opinion that the conclusions arrived at in 1909 still ■ held good. ; Ho hoped that thoro would bo ari amendment to the Act this session, and he thought that what the comniitteo recommended was tho best means of bringing it about. . Mr.- A. Leigh Hunt, in supporting tho chairman's remarks, explained .that, although the proposed amendments to the Act had stood' for five years, they wore , still looked upon as the views of the leading business men of tho . present day. Tho proposed registered assig--neos i would bo men ■ of standing—tho public accountants, for instance—and, in a city like Wellington, thero would Jiot.be only one, but perhaps a dozen. It was believed that different men would specialise in particular lines, and, hcforo' long, bocomo experts in those lines. That would be an improvement on the present system, .where an assignee was a Jack-of-all-trades. Another good thing would bo that tho amend: ments would do aiyay with private assignees, who, were under no legal obli- • gation to sUbmit anything to creditors. Tho value of being ablo to make a selection from a iitimbor of registered assignees was obvious. In regard to tho present system, Mr. Hunt quoted figures, with a view to showing that, wbiJo tho number of bankruptcy petitions had increased steadily front 204 in 1903 to 471' in 1909, tho, number had fallen away to 312 in 1912, ; and, in the .main, theso latter bankruptcies wero small ones. Frequently, whenever there was a big estate to do dealt with, tho parties most concerned did not placo it .in tho hands of an official assignee. '

Mr. R. Hall also supported tho recommendations. He thought that absconding bankrupts should b3 brought back at tho expense of the Crown, no matter what the amount involved might happen to be. '

Mr. J.. Reid said that'. ho had no doubt that tho .movers ot-tlc is- resolution believed in what they had brought forward, but, personally, he dad heard no argument which warranted a doputa-' tion waiting on the' Minister.. The preaehfc Act provided that iin .official' assignee might call in an orport'to assist Bim, and the argument trot ho was not rd export would not tl.ercforo carry sny weight. Ho did not think that any Government would a.ncnd tho Act In the direction of bringing back an absconding bankrupt at tho expense of the Grown. He would, however, support any improvement to the Act.

Mr. John Brodic considered that what was wanted was a better administration of estates which came, into tho hands of an assignee. Ho T/as of opinion that tho present system was worn out, and he was going to support tho resolution.

Mr. J. F. Atkins stated that no was going to support Mr. Leif.h Hunt tooth nnd nail in this matter. Tlie •vsteni or approved and registered trado assignees had worked satisfactorily in New South Wrfles.

After further discusnion, the report oF the committee wns unanimously adopted.