NEW BANKRUPTCY ACT.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 403, 14 November 1868, Page 6

NEW BANKRUPTCY ACT.

After, nearly a year's experience the Bankruptcy Act of 1867 was found seriously wanting, and during the past session of the Assembly an Amendment Act has been passed, and is now in force, remedying, at least, many, if not all, the evils complained of. One of the complaints made in connectio i with the original measure was that declarations of insolvency were necessarily published in the Gazette of the province in which they took place. In many instances the publication of those widely read periodicals took place, possibly, a hundred miles or more from the locality in which the insolvent carried on business, and after entombing the notice in this literary mausoleum he was free to bid defiance to his creditors ; so weeks, in many cases, elapsed before they knew that the law had thrown its shield over him. The opportunities thus afforded to unprincipled and unscrupulous men were great, and, as may without difficulty be imagined, not a few have duly availed themselves of the privileges afforded by disposing of all that was available andlevan ting with the proceeds before any announcement of the insolvency reached the ears of astonished creditors. On the other hand, honest debtors, most anxious to do justice to all their creditors, have had their property swept away by one, before they could fulfil this requirement of the law. This has been especially the case on the coast, where, owing to bad weather and consequent irregularity of communication, a fortnight has frequently elapsed, and even more, between the declaration of insolvency and its appearance in the Gazette, or at least till the Gazette containing!; was to hand. In the meanwhile, of course, the early executions had swept away all assets, and those late in taking proceedings, and those at a distance, wore hopelessly shut out from all chance of dividends. By the 3rd clause of the Amendment referred to, this is put an end to, for it states that " It shall be lawful for the judge or judges of each judicial district of the Supreme Court, to appoint from time to time, by general order, any Gazette or Newspaper, published within his or their judicial district, to be a Gazette for the purpose of the said Act, and either for the whole of the judicial district or for any part or parts thereof, and publication in such Gazette or Newspaper is referred to in the said Act as gazetting." Thus an insolvency can bo legally declared in Westport, Charleston, Brighton, Greymouth or other places, where an official gazette, in the strict sense of the term, is not published but whero a newspaper has been appointed a gazette, as above, by a judge's order. If sufficient grounds are shown, and this is easy, no difficulty will he made in this respect. Very shortly, no doubt, all newspapers on the Coast Or elsewhere, at a distance from the place of the gazette's publication,willbo authorised in this respect. In lieu of the 52nd section of the original Act, the following has been substituted, " Until

the expiration of ten days after the notice has been gazetted, exclusive of the day of such gazetting, the debtor shall jiot be deemed to have committed an act of bankruptcy by filing the declaration, but if within five days after the expiration of that period of ten days, proceedings to obtain adjudication against him are taken by a creditor, or if proceedings are not so taken, then, within three days a'ter the expiration of that period oI five days, such proceedings are taken by the debtor, then and in either of those cases, but nob otherwise, the debtor shall bo deemed to have committed an act of bankruptcy." The following clauses provide that in case of the non-atten-dance of creditors to electa trustee, the Registrar may act as such-; that the Court may appoint, in such cases, a trustee to act in lieu of the provisional trustee; that such appointments be gazetted; that creditors may apply for the estate to be vested in provin cial trustee, on notice of such application being giveu to the debtor, and other details in connection with these provisions. . Recently, it may be remembered, it was ruled, we believe by Chief Justice Arney, that where a creditor has imprisoned a debtor for a full term he could not issue a distress warrant against goods. ' The same does not apply now in insolvency, at all events, for creditors may prove for the amount of their debts under the new Act, whether such imprisonment shall have taken place or not. Under the Act, as it lately stood, no judge had power to discharge a debtor from custody whether he filed his petition and was adjudicated insolvent or not; by the Act in question, this power is given to the Court, though the fact of filing a declaration of insolvency does not release, and a judge's order must be obtained. The remaining clauses provide for the remuneration of acting trustees out of estates, that trustees are to furnish accounts and information, and in the 295 th section of the original Act the word " provable " is to be substituted for the word " probable " as it there stood. Altogether it would appear that some great defects have been remedied, and though this latest edition of legislation on such a difficult subject, may not be nearby approaching perfection, it is at least one more step in advance.