The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3793, 11 September 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1883.

The Chinese have a law, or .at all events a custom, that enables a creditor to kick his debtor to death. Perhaps no one creditor would undertake such a ta.sk, as the debtor might be able to kick him. But when there are many creditors the punishment is as easy as playing a game of football. Without wishing to introduce such a barbaric custom in this country: without wishing for a revival of the ancient Roman law, that enabled a creditor to fseize his debtor, his debtor's wifo and children, and keep them in slavery; or without wishing to see even a return to the old English law, in the time of our grandfathers, wo do think there is room for a little more protection against the wiles of the small and dishonest debtor. Wo are far from thinking that evory protection should be afforded to tho tradesman who, in order to turn over his goods so many times a year, pushes business by giving unreasonable credit in all diT-octions. So far from that very little sympathy need be expressed for those who suffer from their own recklessness. But there are others who make what we may term legitimate losses through the absolute dishonesty of their customers, and these are deserving of sympathy and are entitled to more protection, or rather to more power to recover what is owed to them, than they have now. _ Tor instance, we know of a case in which a small trader had been in the habit of paying cash regularly for all the goods he purchased, and was for a considerable period regarded asbeinyinasoundfinancialposition. On a certain occasion this man, having bought rather more largely than usual of a merchant with whom he had been in the habit of dealing, asked for credit till the following Tuesday; before that day arrived the man had filed his schedule! Tho realisation of tho man's estate produced nothing, not even enough to satisfy tho bill of sale over the remnants of his (stock-in-trade and furniture. A case of this kind, however,' is dealt with under the Bankruptcy Act; the debtor in due course goty his certificate, recommences business on credit, and either retrieves his fortunes, or takes the benefit of the Act again. Tho creditor in this case was simply deceived, deliberately robbed, and no one would have felt sorry if tho law had allowed tho debtor to have been punished like a common thief. But cases of this kind are by no moans unfrcquent and arc pretty well on all fours with those in which petty tradesmen run business on the principle "heads I win, tails you lose." If, in giving these small traders a large and long enduring credit,

some one or two big wholesale houses suffer, it serves them very well right; the credit those houses give deceives others, and enlarges the circle of the bankrupt's \ debts. Let us refer to a different kind of debtor, to the man who is not a tradesman, but who owes more than ho can pay. This man is pretty sure of making his appearance in the Court sooner or later, and when ho reaches there in answer to a summons confesses his indebtedness as a matter of course. In due time the creditor, failing to get any money, takes out a judgment summons, and then the debtor can if lie likes be either stubborn or withhold a true statement of his financial position. At present tho creditor obtains judgment _in the ordinary course, and finds that his debtor is protected by bill of salo, or has piirently, nothing tangible that can bo seized. A judgment summons follows, and unless the creditor can himself show clearly that his debtor lias means or other effects wherewith to pay, the summons is dismissed, and tho creditor renders himself liable to censure from the magistrate for availing himself of a judgment summons without having the fullest knowledgo of his debtor's position. Of course, if tho creditor can Bhow that the debtor is able to pay, the latter is compelled to do so, or suffer imprisonment. Now wo think, in justice to the creditor who has in good faith given reasonable credit, that tho onus of proving inability to pay should bo thrown on tho debtor, and not as at present on tho creditor.