South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2290, 20 July 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1880.

Tjik Committee appointed b} r Parliament to inquire into and report on the Pankruptc3 r Laws, have got an arduous task before them. They have entered largely into the circular and consultation. gratis business, and as the result they have about as beautiful an assortment of conflicting opinions as could well be imagined or disirccl, chambers of commerce, law societies. Judges of various degrees, and members of the Legislative Council have so liberally responded to the enquiries numbered and scheduled, that (he Committee is literally surfeited with advice. IE “in the multitude of counsel there is wisdom,” we arc afraid that with a multitude of Judges there is confusion. The most singular feature in connection with the replies from the learned sources consulted, is their variety. No two chambers, no two judges, can be said to agree. On sonic points they correspond, but on others they materially differ. Still, on the whole, mixed with impractical and purely tncoretical specifics, there is a fair amount of sagacity, and when the chat I comes to bo sifted from the wheat, and the sense eliminated from the nonsense, the Committee will probably he enabled to scud down some useful hints to tho manufacturers of the next amended Bankruptcy Act.

1 Jut while the numerous referees dilfor on the points submitted, there is one subject on which they display a remarkable uniformity. One and all, they appear to have come to the conclusion that the existing-, bankruptcy laws are a disgrace to the colony. The present Act is condemned in terms so unmeasured that unless its framers and authors are impregnable to strong declamation they must feel heartily ashamed or positively angry. Judge Williams, of Dunedin, who is usually mild and temperate in his conclusions, says : —“ In England, bauk- “ nip toy is still thought a disgrace. i! Here it appears to be considered, by “ many, more in the light of a good joke. “ Our present S3 r stcm is thoroughly “ demoralising; it encourages ras- “ cality, it places the honest trader at “ a disadvantage, and causes enormous “ pecuniary loss to the community.’ These sentiments appear to be tolerably well endorsed by the other judges and individuals consulted. Nobody seems, in fact to have a good word to say on behalf of the old bankruptcy Act. That measure has evidently quite outlived its good ; reputation if it ever had any. It is among the things abandoned—obnoxious and disreputable. True it has been a friend to many,’ but the world is ungrateful, public opinion is mutable, and nobody will say a good word in its favor. In simple, but pathetic terms, the whitewash brush is worn out. It has hidden many a commercial smudge, but the bristles have given way at last. Even the skilled artists who used it so often—the Supreme and District Court Judges —have nothing but a bad word to say of it, and its days, we presume, are numbered.

There is another subject on which the Judges —nut the stars of the first magnitude, like 11 is Honor Judge Williams, but the lesser liglits, the Honors of Hie District Courts—are remarkably even upon. They have contracted a powerful dislike to bills of sale and deeds of arrangement. District J udge Kenny considers that “ bills “of sale should be made a bankruptcy “ when given for future advances or for “ a past debt —another name for a “ fraudulent preference. A bill of sale “ would then only hold good against “ bankruptcy creditors when given for “ an actual present advance of money.” District Judge Weston considers that “ unregistered bills of sale are cruel in- “ struments, and a curse,” and “ a “ rather lengthy experience as a prac-

“ titioner and judge convinces him

that hut little benefit is derived by “ the holding oE the instrument, whilst “ ruin in most cases results to “ tho giver, and great loss at- “ taches to the unsecured creditors.” Ecl'orring to deeds of arrangements, Judge AVcston says: —“They arc a “ cloak to cover iniquity when perpe- “ trated upon a largo scale. The small “ dealer, without friends,with an empty “ chest, is compelled to file and submit to an examination ; whereas the reck- “ less and often dishonest merchant, “ with the assistance of a heavily “ and recently-secured bank or brother “ merchant, wit!) funds to pay a small “ composition, and aided by a solicitor ot “ inllncnec and manner, can invariably “ collect ii small meeting of creditors and obtain the sanction of ihe mvjorit.y “ to a decil of arrangement and a release. “ in that w.iy lie escapes an examination, “ and possibly punishment, the bite of the man loss favorably circumstanced.” Judge Broad evidently sees with other spectacles for he considers “ deeds of ar- “ rangement should be continued. They “ sometimes enable, desirable and conu veiiient compositions to be made which “ could not be by other means.” The landlords have not escaped the criticism of the Judges, some of would appear to have a most lively contempt for landlords’ privileges. I) i strict Judge Abinsl ord of Wellington, the mild, (he bland, the amiable, ami one of the most experienced magistrates in the colony says|hc "could " never understand why, in the colonies, " the landlords power of distress for " rent, should be permit led. 11 e " ought to be treated (in; same as " the butcher or baker." Judge Kenny considers that “tho landlord's privilege “ of distress should be wholly abolished. •• It is a barbarous surviveo from feudal-

" ism. : ’ bet iis hope I.]i: 1 1 lln; Committee out, ol; (Ik; <.*<>;i(ic( of opinions elieiled will bo able I" submit some suyeyst ions ill! a. practical ami useful eharaeter, for the eaiidanee of the pyntlemen mi whom (ho duty will devolve of the next new whitewash brush for the use of the hopelessly embarrassed and their victims.