Bankruptcy Law

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 57, 22 October 1885, Page 2

Bankruptcy Law

A reference to the Bankruptcy statistics of last year points , unmistakeably to the fact that even from the creditor's point of view, "the game is not worth the candle." Last year there were 864 bankruptcies, the liabilities in which were £868,630. The realised assets were £112,538, and put of this amount actually realized, the creditors received £44,116 in dividends. The average dividend obtained] was about one shilling and nmepence in the pound. It is no wonder that a study of these figures causes a Southern contemporary to say— "lt may well be asked, when the trouble and delay and other annoyances to creditors are taken into account, whether the game I is worth the candle— whether, for the sake of collecting and distributing one and ninepence in the pound, it is worth while for the country to maintain the cumbrous and complicated Bankruptcy system. Would it not b© better to say at once to creditors, ( If you choose to give crediVyou must run the risk of not being paid,' and to. debtors; 'If you choose to get into debt, you must get out of it again as best you can/ We cannot help thinking the 'effect of that would speedily be to put business of all sorts on a much sounder footing than it has been on in New Zealand for many years past." — Watchman;