The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1883. Our Credit System.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 66, 6 November 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1883. Our Credit System.

OO.v previous occasions, in discussing the Bankruptcy Law a-? it now stands and the chnniros that "wtil tak<' place, w tin a the new Ban!:---ruptcy Law comes . inti.i oj-c-ru-tion, we prc.'ifc'.ed tluit ;t imrnlvr o! small cises of ban t a-np r c.y w.nii.i i> ■ iorced ihri *i:x-h. in ordvr to- <jn:\':<\-~ xorne unscrupulous (ifili'urs ro e^c-M? the stringent, ciau^-s vi' :!;•■* now Ac: Such prediction has> a- v t. !)i>cn only partially i'ulfillrd in our ••w;< l i- r rict. as some who would have nvaiici l\ ai~ selves of the benefit of the curren: Act b^re been restrained either by aii unwonted feeling of honesty, or a dread that creditors mi«;lit 'brow such legal obstacles in the way of the whitewashing 1 as would^postpone their discharge until the year has expired and the new Act in force. A gr«,at deal may be done iv two months, and the proverbial (May-* of the law vanquished by the urgir.gs of a luuikrup: whose purse is long' enough to employ pood counsel, and so overcome the difficulties that rise up so readily against a less fortunute, hut perhaps honester, brother ia misfortune who has not taken tho same precautions for safety, and find a haven of rest among the "certificated ones' in good time. We are still of opinion that. Parliament may pass and amend bankruptcy enactments session ait«r session, making the conditions or clauses so strict that the cleverest lawyers may find a difficulty in defeating their provisions, and yer. no good result follow. The reform must beg-in in public opinion. Until bankruptcy is looked upon a disgrace, and a man who has failed is treated with doubt and.suspicion, the same weary record of Gebts repudiated will go on for ever. A case in point occurred the other day. A tradesman called v meeting of his creditors in Feilding upwards of a year ago, aud a composition of "nothing in the pound" was accepted, and time was granted for him to go to work and do somethingfor himself and tamily. He moved to Palmer^ton and commenced business there. He was unsuccessful in one direction, but succeeded admirably in another, for we learn that Mr G. W. iShailer states his liabilities at £67 14s 3d, and his assets at £382, from which £305 has to be deducted for secured creditors* We may infer from this that the deb?.or in question has had " v <.>ood tima " since he 'cii 'Feilding, and his position will be ..iohsiderably improved when he is successfully whitewashed, und ajrain turned adrift to tuk i a fresii depas-tuzv. By inai.y he wiil be locked upon an rather a clover iel'iow, 'without a blur upon his e.>cueheon, and a singifW point is, that instead oj storekeepers and dealers oj every kind taking warning* and " Boycotting " him by refusing to luivo any orh<?.r than cash transactions, they will (vary truly) say " This man owes nothing-. and for the next six or twelve ißOJtbs he will be able to pay. M'ter thit we can check him if be goes 100 far." But the mischief is that there ia no means of telling when he has gone too far and ogam arrived ut a state of insolvency, and there will never bn until tradesmen gather mutual conn' deuce and combine to warn each other to arm against such " free lance.-," who will otherwise continue to prey upon them until the end of the chapter. It would only be a fair battln against the Jerysty Dcddler class that has been created by the law itself. Self protection ought to be the first law . of tradesmen, a:id after the many costly vrarniugij they have recently receivd, advice ou the subject ought to be unnoce s:iry.