TRADE PROTECTION SOCIETIES.

Evening Star, Volume III, Issue 814, 14 December 1865, Page 2

TRADE PROTECTION SOCIETIES.

(Tb JAe Editor of the 'Evening Star.)

Sir, —The great benefits which the operations of these institutions have been the means of conferring on the honest portion of the trading community in London and every town and city in lihigland, -will be, we trust, a sufficient apology for asking for a small space in your paper on this subject. The art of failing in business has become a profession requiring great skill and good address, and the ability displayed in this vocation by many unscrupulous traders has rendered the occupation of white-washing a very profitable branch of business. These members of live on the fat of the land, maintain costly establishments, and seem to flourish abundantly among the opulent classes of the day ; and if their funds run short, nothing is easier to balance than their ledgers. A banker's account down to zero and no available assets, the receipts stamped according to Act of Parliament in the insolvency court, terminate all troublesome demands, and leave the actor to resume his position in society and the conxmercial world with even greater brilliancy than if he had liquidated his liabili-

ties in hard cash. *' Vile ia the man that pays* ' should be the motto of these gentry • and thtt success that attends their skiff in failing properly renders the occupation an agreeable and pleasant pastime. v The furrows of care, the pangs of disappointment from unsuccessful efforts, the gloom arising from an exhausted bank or an empty pocket, together with all the ills which honest poverty is heir to, never fall to the lot of this class of professionals. They have lost all, yet by some means they can find, the cost of amusements at the theatres, concerts, &c, to be no interference with their economy. According to law, their money has vanished, yet the luxury of horse flesh, with every other necessary to a genteel and gentlemanly life, is at their command. As the present insolvency law affords such efficient protection to a class of depredators, who enjoy every pleasure and luxury of the world at the expense of their dupes, it is the business of trade protection societies to keep their members posted up in information as to the character of men who lead a dishonest life. Since the Insolvency Court cannot protect us against the acts and deeds of men who embark in business for the purpose of defrauding their confiding dupes, these societies, by giving us information as to where danger lies, enables us to shun evils against which there is no legal remedy. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and when we know the names of unprincipled adventurers, the fault is ours if we become their victims. We do not charge every insolvent with dishonesty, for misfortune, from errors of judgment or unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances, may lay prostrate many honest men ; but as there are frequently men engaged in every branch of commerce who contract debts which they never intend to liquidate, it is for the purpose of being on our guard against these unscrupulous adventurers that we now suggest to the commercial community of Dunedin the desirability of iniating a Trade Protection Society. "We are, &c, A Trading Firm. Octagon, Dec. 14th, 1885.