The Southland Times. INVERCARGILL : TUESDAY, AUGUST 12.

Southland Times, Issue 1779, 12 August 1873, Page 2

The Southland Times. INVERCARGILL : TUESDAY, AUGUST 12.

The Insolvency Bill now passing through the Assembly is in many important respects an improvement upon existing insolvency legislation. It proposes to repeal all the bankruptcy laws at present in force, providing that all proceedings commenced under them, but not completed at the passing of the proposed measure, shall be subject to their provisions as though they had not been repealed. The Bill proposes the division of the Colony into Insolvency Districts, each with a Court of .Record, of which the Judge of a District Court shall be the Judge. The constitution of a new court appears altogether unnecessary, as a simple provision that insolvency busi- , ness should be transacted iv the District j Court would have met the case. In the practice of the Court a provision that a ] want of form shall not invalidate proceedings, unless ifc can be shown that substantial injustice has been caused by it, will be found beneficial in the working, and will tend to dispose of technical and other objections, which under existing Acts have often seriously impeded busi nesß. Upon the petition of a debtor the Judge may accept the surrender of his estate and place it at once in the hands of an assignee. Compulsory sequestration of a debtor's estate may be obtained either by a single creditor or two or more jointly of the amount of £50 on either of the following grounds (among others), namely, of conveyance or assignment of property by the debtor to trustees for the benefit of creditors, departure of the debtor with intent to defeat or delay his creditors, either from New Zealand or from his dwelling-house, " keeping house" by the debtor, or the levy of an execution by seizure, for payment of not less than £50, unless satisfied by payment, and also on the ground of non-payment by him of a sum of not less than £50 within ten days after service upon him by a creditor of a debtor's summons, calling upon him to pay the Bame. For the administration of estates, assignees are to be appointed who shall give security, and who may be examined upon oath by the Court touch ing the estate. Trustees may be appointed by creditors, but in all cases in which the gross value of the estate to be administered does not exceed £500, one of the assignees shall be sole trustee, and it shall not be necessary to call a meeting of creditors. Immediately upon the issue of an order of sequestration, the property of a debtor shall vest in the assignee appoiuted by the Court for the district, and by a simple process the assignee or trustee of an estate may attach or make seizure of the debtor's property, wheresoever found. At meetings of. creditors voting may be either in. person or by proxy. Agents of creditors may vote on behalf of their principals, and firms or viuupuutuß are eu 1 ine a tv one voio only. The assignee is required to preserve the estate in as nearly as possible the same order as at the time of sequestration, until after meeting of creditors and confirmation of trustee, except in the case of perishable property, in which case at the direction of the Eegistrar he may realise. Salary or income of a .debtor, both during the process of insolvency or after, may by the order of the Court be made liable to satisfy claims under the insolvency. Iv the event of a seizure under a District Court or Kesident Magistrate's judgment or process, should sequestration be made of the debtor's estate witliin four days of such seizure, the sheriff or bailiff is re-, quired to hand over the proceeds to the assignee or trustee, to be dealt with ns part of the insolvent estate ; and whore any property of the debtor shall have been seized or attached, but shall not have been sold, the same is also ordered to become part thereof. Cases of recent occurrence, in which the estate of a debtor has been swept away by a single creditor, have evidenced the necessity of such a provision as the foregoing. The discharge of a debtor will not be granted unless A ; dividend of 10a in the £1 has been paid, or is certain to be paid out of the estate, or upon a resolution of the creditors to the effect that the inability to pay the above dividend has arisen from circumstances beyond the control of the debtor. The discharge may however be refused or suspended in any case in which the insolvent shall have been guilty of neglecting to keep proper accounts — of vexatiously defending any action brought against him — or of delaying to sequestrate his estate in order to confer an unfair advantage upon a creditor— contracting debts "without reasonable probability of payment — or of any of several other specified misdemeanors, among which may be noted that of " carrying on trade by means of fictitious capital." To the suspension or refusal of certificate may also be added, for either of the foregoing offences, a sentence of imprisonment for six months. No certificate of discharge will release an insolvent from a debt incurred by means of fraud or breach of trust, and after the expiration of two years from the close of an insolvency, any creditor may make application to the court to enforce payruent of the balance due by the debtor after deducting the dividend paid. The Bill provides also for liquidation by arrangement, and sanctions the acceptance by creditors of a composition in a debtor's estate without insolvency. The penal clauses render persons who may conceal property belonging to au estate, or who may make a false claim, liable to three years' imprisonment, with or without hard labor, and the insolvent who either does nor make a full disclosure of hia estate, or sha^L conceal the same, or shall mulilute or alter his books, pr make fal,se entries therein, or shall have obtained credit within four "months next before; sequestration by any false representation or other fraud, and shall not have paid the debt incurred, together with a num.

ber of other specified oft'erices,

will be

liable to the same punishment. The Bill, notwithstanding its advantages, is nevertheless too cumbrous and costly in its machinery. What is really required ia a simple Act that may be worked without entailing the certainty of absorbing a very large portion of the debtor's estate. It appears, however, to do away with the absurdity evident under the existing Bankruptcy Acts, of expecting debtors to surrender their estates without reservation, and yet placing them under the necessity of expending a considerable amount of money in providing legal assistance. The proposed Bill appears not to necessitate the spending of even a shilling by an honest debtor desiring a sequestration of his estate, who may obtain relief by his own petition to the Judge, and the costs of proceeding appear thereafter to be wholly borne by the estate.