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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 15, Issue 2013, 13 December 1870, Page 2

LEGISLATION OF THE SESSION. No. XXII.— The Juries' Act Amendment Act, 1870. This Act provides that every person who attends a crimiual sitting of the Supreme. Court, or of auy District Court, as a comraoa juror, shall receive for every day, or part of a day, duriug which he is iv atteudance, payment according to a scale contained iv the Schedule to the Act. The scale is the following : — lf the juror lives iv the towu where the court is held, he receives three shillings -perday ; if out of the town, but within seven mites of the court-house, four shillings j if more thau seven, but less than twelve miles from it, six shillings ; if more thau twelve, but less thau twenty, eight shillings. As long as special jurors are paid, it is certainly nothing more thau justice that common jurors should be paid also ; aud it may be added that, so loug as coroners' juries are left unpaid, the injustice is only half remedied ; but, in order that it may be so remedied, it is not necessary that the system of levelling up should be adopted. Why uot adopt the system of levelling down, and disendow the institution altogether ? The idea that one is bound do do something for the common weal^sveu at a sacrifice of convenience, or at a pecuniary loss to himself, seems to be fading altogether out of colonial ethics. During the late fire at Lyttelton (if we may believe the reporters), when the • bystanders were requested to assist in,

the effort made to extinguish it, they asked how much would be paid them if they assisted, aud, not getting anything, they stood idly by, while their neighbours' houses were in flames. The very best way to foster this spirit of selfishness is to keep up and increase our present system of jurors' payments, members' honorariums, &c. No. XXIII.— The Bankruptcy Acts Amendment Act, 1870. The law with regard to bankruptcy, as it at present stands, rests on two Acts, the Bankruptcy Act, 1867, aud the Bankruptcy Act Amendment Act, 1868. The first of these contains 354 clauses ; the second 21. During the last session a Bill was introduced called the Bankruptcy Acts Amendment Bill, 1870 ; it contained 98 clauses. The changes which it would have introduced iuto the law were made at the recommendation of the Chambers of Commerce of several of the chief towns, in the colony, and it was generally admitted in the House and Council that it was desirable that they should be introduced. But the Bill encountered so much opposition on the ground that, considering the great curabrousness and complication of the present Acts, to add to them another Act of 98 clauses would make confusion worse confounded — that Government agreed to let it lapse for this session, intending next session to bring in a consolidated Bill, in which the provisions of the Bankruptcy Acts Amendment Bill, 1870, should be embodied. It happened, however, that the provisional trustee in Auckland had been removed, and there was no provision iv the present law for vesting in his successor the estates which had been under his administration. To meet this difficulty, therefore, it was necessary that four clauses, having refereuce only to this particular class of cases, should be adopted. They provide merely, that if a trustee in the future shall cease to hold office, the property, &c, shall be vested iv his successor, or if, in the past, he has ceased to hold office, the property, &c, shall be deemed to have vested in his successor. In the interpretation clause (clause No. 2), the term " Provisional Trustee " is defined as "any person appointed to act as such under the 22nd section of the said Act (The Bankruptcy Act, 1867), or the eighth section of this Act. As there are only five sections iv this Act, including the title, we presume that the reference to the eighth section must be a clerical blunder. The changes which will be introduced into the law, uuder the bill to be introduced , next session, are mainly two. Ist. The filing of a declaration of insolvency will be made an act of bankruptcy. This will render it impossible for an unscrupulous insolvent to make away with his property, as was hitherto only too possible, iv the interval between the declaration of insolvency and the adjudication of bankruptcy, as it will virtually do away with this interval altogether. 2nd. XJuder the new law, the baukrupt will not get his final discharge till he pays 10s in the pound. After the adjudication of bankruptcy, supposing him not to have paid 10s in the pound, he will be allowed protection only for a term of three years. If, during these three years, he does not succeed in paying 10s in the pound, whatever property he may then have will become liable to the full amount of his original debt. It is believed that this provision will have the effect of deterring debtors from contiuuing to carry on their business after they find that they are unable to pay 20s in the pound, as an insolvent who is able to pay a proportion of his debts, amounting to more than one-half, will subject himself to much less trouble and loss in the future, than one who is unable to do so. An Act was passed in England in 1869, embodying these provisions. The postponement of the New Zealand Act on the subject will be beneficial, as it will allow time for enquiries to be made with regard to the practical working of the English Act.