Hawke's Bay Hearld. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1880. TRADESMEN'S BOOK KEEPING.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5588, 17 January 1880, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Hearld. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1880. TRADESMEN'S BO OK KEEPING.

Last week the Chief Justice> sitting it the Wellington Bankruptcy Court, "hac before him the case of one J. N. Owen lately the licensee of thy BfelWmu Hotel, Wellington. Tke bankrupt hat kept no books, except a register of beds and a bankbook, and there was no pos sible way of ascertaining his receipts anc expenditure. The trustee stated that h( could not obtain any information fron bankrupt, except that the receipts " variec from £40 to £L 2) a-week, and that £!()( must be taken to cover expenses." Mi M'Carthy said " that lie and other ci'cdi tors considered it the worst ease whicl had happened in Wellington "—and tha; was saying a great deal/ when Hr Lewis Moss's and 'Mr Port's bankruptcies an remembered. When Owen became insolvent it was found that he had recently given a bill of sale over his whole effects to one creditor. The Chief Justice said according tn the report in a Wellingtoi paper, that he considered the question of fraudulent preference and incurring debt? without any prospect of paying them was a matter for a jury to consider. The case of not keeping proper books, how ever, was a matter for the Court. lie should treat tlie ease differently froir what he would had the bankrupt been i merchant : and lie hoped he Was not deal ing too leniently with the bankrupt ir suspending his certificate for four calen dar months. The Judge appeared to havo some doubi about the sufficiency of the punishment, bul the public, with the exception of careless or fraudulent traders, will certainly not share in this doubt Every honest mar will agree with its when we say that on< of the greatest difficulties in the way ol clearing the commercial atmosphere is the ridiculous insufficiency of suuh judgments as that in the ease of Owen. It was quite true that his Honor could not dea' with the case as one of fraud, though we believe that he might have directed an indictment to be preferred against the bankrupt. Still, he had the power tc suspend tho issue of a certificate for three years, and that would have prevented Owen again engaging in business, incurring debts he could not or would not pay, and leaving his creditors in the lurch fox some time to come. As it is, he will most likely live in elegant case for four months, then get whitewashed, aud probably repeat his career in another town. Mi Owen may morally be entirely guiltless ol any intention to defraud. He may have left himself absolutely penniless. But, granting all this, he is evidently unfit tc engage in business, and the mild reproof — for it amounts to nothing more — administered by the Chief Justice, is not likely to teach him much of the principles of trade. The concluding sentence of his Honor's^ decision is curious in another way. ' He considers that an hotel-keeper is ..very naughty if he neglects to keep book*,- but he is not so wicked as a petty tradesman who does likewise. Why the distinction should be drawn is entirely beyond our comprehension. The interests at stake are often very large, and hotel-keeper? fail for thousands of pounds. A little storekeeper probably does not turn over as much money in a month as an ordinary hotel does in a week, yet the former is, according to the extraordinary decision of the Chief Justice, very much worse than the latter if ho fails to keep proper books. While our law is constituted as it is, and while our Judges propound such queer theories of commercial morality, such men as James NeLson Owen will live on the fat of the land at the expense of others. The creditors have, it is true, the power to order a criminal .prosecution, but they have also the privilege of paying the expenses, and there aro so many loopholes by which fraudulent traders may escape that, in sporting parlance, tho odds are ten to one against a conviction being obtained. Even to get Owen's certificate suspended for a paltry four months the creditors had to pay a considerable sum for legal expenses. The English, according to a witty Frenchman, shot Admiralßyng " jwur encourage? les mitres." So, by way of encouragement to creditors to prosecute debtors whom they have reason to consider cither fraudulent or culpably careless, we direct that all the trouble and expense of the prosecution shall be borne by the creditors, and so construct tho law that, unless the debtor is a greater fool than ordinary, ho shall escape. It is astounding that a "nation of shopkeepers " like the English should, after so many years'

experimenting, have such miserably imperfect commercial law. The Very fact i of bankruptcy should bo primu fctcie j evidence of ttifiininali'ly, and it should \>c i the bankrupt's 'care 'to prove that his in- ■ solvency Was d\te io causes over which he : had no control. If justice had been dwlt . '6ut to all we should during the last year have seen many wid're bankrupts in gaol.