JUDGE WARD ON THE BANKRUPTCY ACT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 73, 26 March 1878, Page 4

JUDGE WARD ON THE BANKRUPTCY ACT.

(N.Z. Jnrist.) At the District Court, Balclutha, on ihe 19th February, 1875, an spplirction was made in the case of Jameß Reed for a final discharge. In deciding the case His Honor Judge Ward eaid : — <( I am clearly of opinion that tha order of discharge applied for by thia bankrupt must be delayed for a lengthened period, but I must sny that he appears to be a most unfortunate man. He has evidently been born 200 years too .late. At the Taieri his sphere of swindling was somewhat too limited, but here he haß riden on a regular Border foray. Instead, however, of spear ond sword, he has been armed with acceptances to bills of exchange, the great majority of which seem to have been duly dishonoured. lam not certain that the old method of plundering was not the best — those who were plunder eJ had, at all events, the chance of a fight for their sheep and oxen, end the plunderer, if caught, wcs summarily disposed of. 'I he bankrupt's schedule does the greatest credit to the primitive simplicity of the Cluth_, There would scare be such faith found in Israel. He came to tbe district over head and ears in debt. He had £50 in cash, and his partner a £10 hors>, and ou this magnificent capital they set up business as butchers, and contrived to incur debts to the amount of nearly £1000 in six months. (His Honor then referred to the sub-sections of the 120 th clause of the Bankruptcy Act violated by the bankrupt.) Under these circumstances the bankrupt's order of discbarge must be suspended for two years. Let him not, however, imagine thai by this suspension he will be exposed to the slightest risk of imprisonment. Probably he is not aware of the tenderness — the romantic affection, I m_y almost call it — with which an insolvent debtor ib regarded by the humaue Legislature of this happy Colony. It may be instructive to point out how marvellously the win! is tempered to the shorn lamb of the Bankruptcy Court — with what care his personal liberty is guarded from the vengeance of his unfeeling creditors. Supposing a person in difficulties desires to pass through the portals of this Court to the blissful haven beyond, where wicked creditors cease from troubling, and the weary debtor is at rest, his first act is to file his schedule, and this at onca gives him peace fro tempore. Then commence his creditors difficulties. Assuming a creditor to be able to show that the debt was incurred by gross fraud, he is not admitted to oppose the bankrupt's discbarge — even if his claim be admitted by the bankrupt — without proving bis debt. If he prove his debt-—however-minute be the dividend received — he is deemed to have elected to satisfy his claim out of the bankrupt's estate, and is debarred from imprisoning the bankrupt for the balance during tbe suspension of the order of discharge. Let U3 suppose, however, that, such a creditor has Dot proved his debt, but has stood by during the bankruptcy proceeding and has heard the order of discharge suspended. In such a case, coarseminded commercial men might imagine that, if the creditor's debt were admitted on the schedule of the baukrupt, and if it were decided, io effect, by the suspension of the order of discharge, that the bankrupt had behaved fraudulently or improperly, then, on the application of such, a creditor, the Bankruptcy Court should issue a warrant of imprisonment without further expense or delay. Not so has deemed the wisdom of ihe Legislature. First, the unfeeling creditor must go through the whole expense of obtaining judgement against the bankrupt for his debt already admitted; then he must apply for an order under the Abolition of Imprisonment Act of last session — and among the regulations under tbat Act, if I remember right, he will find it directed that no order of imprisonment is to issue against a person adjudicated a bankrupt. I have not the regulations here to refer 10, and therefore speak as lo those under correction. It is -clear, however, that ihe Legislature bas considered that, in the event of a return of nulla bona to a writ of^z. fa , a creditor whose biils have been duly dishonoured, sboulo consider himself compensated, both for principal and intertsf, by the thought of the remorse wbich his debtor ought to feel for non-payment in tin's worl j ; or, failing such remorse, by the prospect of the retribution which awaiie him in the next. Doubtless, there are persons who would prefer tbe administration of a modicum of imprisonment to a bankrupt during life to a somewhat speculative post obit, but with such grovelling natures the Legislature has evidently no sympathy. And lam well assured (said his Honor, addressing the bankrupt) that I act in simple accordance ■with the lofty spirit of our laws, touching debtors and creditors, when I inform you that, in suspending your order of discbarge for two years, 1 do not expose you to the slightest practical risk of imprisonment ; I merely express my opinion of yonr peculiar style of business, and abandon you to the reproaches of an agonised conscience."