THE NEW ENGLISH BANKRUPTCY LAW.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 114, 14 April 1870, Page 6

THE NEW ENGLISH BANKRUPTCY LAW.

Tho "Timaru Herald" gives the following resume of the bankruptcy law, brought into force in England at the beginning of this year, and the effects its announcemeut had upon many businesses which were tottering to their fall : —

A debtor cannot get a discharge from the court till he has paid his creditors ten shillings, unless they by a special resolution choose to exonerate him. That, in tho first instance after filing his shedule, he is bound to aid to the utmost of his power in the realisation and distxibution of his property, to make a complete inventory of it, and to give account of his financial position. If he fails in these duties he is liable to be punished for contempt of Court. When the property has been realised, either wholly or so far as can be done without useless delay, the bankruptcy may be "closed." Then follows in general a period of three years, during which the bankrupt may do his best to make up the requisite ten shillings in the pound. If he succeeds in his endeavours during that interval, he has earned his discharge, and the old liabilities cancelled. But, supposing the requisite moiety of the former debts is not paid, the balance is to be deemed a subsisting obligation, enforceable against any subsequently acquired property of the debtor. It is true that under the New Zealand Bankruptcy Act of 1867, any property subsequently acquired by a bankrupt who does not pay ten shillings in tho pound may be seized by the creditors. But to carry out this law, the process to be gone through in the Supreme Court is so tedious and expensive that it is well nigh inoperative. By the present English law, however, this attaching of property belonging to a former bankrupt is made exceedingly simple, being no more than entering against the quondam bankrupt an action for a simple debt, the proof of tho debt in the Bankruptcy Court being sufficient evidence of the liability, less any dividend that may have been previously handed ty the creditors. The English law has already been found to work wonders in reducing most materially the number of insolvency cases, and no evidence is more conclusive of its efficacy than the horror with which it is viewed by debtors. During the month of December the columns of the London " Gazette" were filled to overflowing with applications in bankruptcy, and the various law courts had a severe strain put upon them by the enormous pressure of business that then accrued. In the early part of that month the " Gazette" notified nearly 200 notices of surrender, — 56 notices in London, and 135 iv the country ; but towards the close of the month the rush of bankrupts was prodigious, there being in a single "Gazette" the unpax-alleled number of 527 persons advertised as bankrupts, — 221 in London, and 306 in the country. When the new Act came into force on the Ist Januaxy, the pages of the " Gazette" were nearly purged of debtors, one issue of it only l'ecording a single case of insolvency. Bankruptcy Acts without nnmber have been, from time to time, in force in England, but all, without exception, have signally failed in giving satisfaction. As far as can be judged, the present Act seems to have in it the elements of success, for under it the creditor has some chance of recovering his own, and moreover, the honest debtor is not hardly used. To dishonest tradesmen only it has tex*rors. By tho honest but unfortunate man of business, an Act which compels a certain standard of honesty to be observed towards creditors, would be rather welcomed than otherwise, as it would but accord with his own fcleas of justice, and distinguish him from the rogue. We require such an act here, and the sooner it is the law of the land, the better for the country.