COLONIAL BANKRUPTCY LAW.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 369, 27 June 1884, Page 5

COLONIAL BANKRUPTCY LAW.

In the course of his address lately to the electors of Taranaki, Colonel Trimble gave his audience a little p : his mind with regard to the' 1 new Bankruptcy Act. Notwithstanding his military title he is somewhat of ar authority on such matters,the priheipa portion of his life having been pastfec ( in commercial pursuits. -• We. shoulc add that Colonel Trimble jgayp a.grea; deal of attention . tq., .the- .Bankrupted Bill when it .was, before Parliament 5 , and did his utmost to bring it luto a useful and, j^prkaSle'i'. sfiape. Ifclwas'a dry and unthankful, task, and the selfsacrifice of the member for Taranaki was the more creditable from the f acp that he holds somewhat' peculiar view£ onthe 1 subject I ' of bankruptcy legislaf tion, and that the- new Bill certainly did not embody them,. Colonel Trimble is reported to haye ©aid: at his Taranaki meeting " that the thought of the country was evidently that the bankruptcy law was nb'byii^gqntL eno.ugb, and it was thought to pass a Bill so stringent that it would bje difficult to evade it. He had no hesitation in saying that there wouj&soon be the same dissatisfaction with, thje .present Act as there had been wi,tjb its predecessor. Dunng the progress of the Bill he had taken the opportunity of stating that the bankrupted law was quite unnecessary, and that m> bankruptcy law ever passed had had any good effect on the community. Such a law allowed the swindler to escape, and caught in its meshes tlie innocent but unfortunate trader. His experience showed that it was easier to collect doubtful debts without the aid of any bankruptcy law, and he gajet instances within his own commercial experiences in England and America in support of his own contention 1 ." With one part of the speaker's remarks we thoroughly agree. Prom the first we anticipated that the new law would give no more satisfaction to the coai. inercial part of the community than ' the old law gave, and, if we only judge from occasion al notices in newspapers in various parts of the colony, our presentment has already given tokens of realisation. The machinery for deal* ing with bankrupt estates is just as complicated as ever. We in cline to think that on the whole 'it is more so. In certain respects tjie new law, instead of advancing towards perfection, goes back to something which has already been tried and found wanting. In a few particu'ars there is no doubt an'improvement — on paper; but we are satisfied that the Banjk- [ ruptcy Act as a whole wi|l effect ho improvement in the position^ of creditors. They will find that the average yield from estates will be r\6 larger than of old, and that (here Will be quite as much trouble in winding 1 |up as ever there, was. Perhaps we shall be lold tbat one great. advantage :tb; jbe derived from the new system : fis tbat there will be fewer and that the effect of the new law { is already perceptible in that direction. It may be so at first. Men who, : under a les9 stringent law, might, have called their creditors together at once,

and made a clean breast of it, may nowj resort to. desperate expedients to re-i t'rieve themselves, and may for 'at while longer manage- to keep going.) But whatever else the Act may do, itjj wills certainly not make men./spj who without such a law would hare been unable to pay twenty shillings in the pound. In the majority o£ cases the desperate efforts—the " financing •" — will prore unavailing, and sooner or later the machinery of the Act will have to be put in motion. Whenever' the stringency, or supposed stringency, of the Act incites a trader to keep : going after he is really insolvent, an injury is inflicted on the mercantile* community, and in the long run that is a fact which will certainly mako it^ self very disagreeably felt. We do notj however, at all agree with Colonslj Trimble when he says that no bank«; ruptcy law is necessary. When thej country is prepared to abolish the action for debt, then the bankruptcy! law can go with it, and we are by no means sure that under any system trade would not be placed on a much more satisfactory footing than at present. Until the tomniercial comf munity is educated up to that poms it is useless to talk of doing without; a bankruptcy law. — ' Wanganui Heiv ! aid.'