The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1883. THE NEW BANKRUPTCY ACT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1490, 22 September 1883, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1883. THE NEW BANKRUPTCY ACT.

The new Bankruptcy Act comes into force on the Ist of January next, and those about to file would probably do well to take advantage of the three months which intervene wider the old law. It was felt by tho country and the Housß that the old Act made things a little too comfortable for a debtor. The process ; of going through the Court has been in most instances so easy that there was an almost irressfcible temptation held out to some people to settle their debts annually , by taking a certificate from the Bankruptcy Court, and when a man didn't file he would be wise iri hii generation, and frighten his creditors by threatening to file, and so induee them to take half or quarter of their demands. The new Act puts a stop to this I After January next a man cannot compound with his creditors without filing his schedule. Then again creditors' trustees are abolished, and a stern relentless ''official assignee" substituted, These assignees are selected by the Government, and as practioally they have all executivo powers undev the Act, the success of the measure will depend mainly upon them. If the Government appoints picked men as official assignees, the farce which has been so often repeated of going through the Court in the shortest possible time at a minimum coßt will be played out. The new Act allows creditors to elect supervisors to assist the official assignee but these,functionaries have no direct power, and are merely the • agents of the official assignee. However, the estate has to pay them and It has to pay the official assignee, to say nothing of legal charges, It is very questionable whether larger dividends will accrue under the new order of affairs as the new act is probably morßSxpensive to. work than the oldfos&j!|jut if it be expensive it is It is more likely to trap and punish the fraudulent debtor than th&i.older one, Scandalous cases too, whichslipped so easily through the Coujft I under the old Act will not have the 1 I same-chance under the new one. Of

one tiling we may be certain, and that is: that if a greater amount of prudence is not evinced both by the Government and the public there will next year be a shoal of bankruptcies which will test the efficiency of the new Act. Before the House sits again the Act will have been fairly tried all round the colony, and its value to the community determined by praotical experience'. ' •