WHAT DOES IT MEAN ?

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 236, 21 March 1885, Page 2

WHAT DOES IT MEAN ?

i^The Supreme Court fees in .bankruptcy cases have recently been increased from three guineas to five, and a correspondent indignantly complains that it will have the effect of debarring poor men from seeking the protection of the Court. The -writer points out that while the swindling bank-

rupt carefully 'Vslides" a portion of his estate to his wife or some friend, or conceals enough of it to defray the expenses of getting whitewashed, many unfortunate small traders are overtaken by unexpected disaster, through failure of business, bad debts, or the screwing-up process, and not only find themselves without the means of paying bankruptcy fees, but even destitute of subsistence. He thinks, therefore, that the fees should bo made as low as possible consistent with the necessity of maintaining a set of officials to perform the duties appertaining to the administration of the bankruptcy laws. Finally, he expresses his belief that the Government, foreseeing a period of depression, and a large increase in thenumberof bankruptcies, is anxious to make a profit out of the misfortunes of the people. "We have not space for our correspondent's letter in detail, and have therefore merety given the gist of it. That it contains more than one fallacy need sarcely be pointed out. "Without denying that the bankruptcy fees are unduly heavy, and that they press more severely on the unfortunate debtor than on the cunning swindler, it may be argued that to form too low a scale of fees would only be offering a preminm on bankruptcy, and increase the facilities for evading payment of liabilities. As to the Government deriving revenue from the misfortunes of the people, that is a thing which it constantly and systematically does. It derives a revenue from litigiousness, from cases which are the result of men's evil passions, from debtors who appear in the Resident Magistrate's Court, and hundreds of other sources of misfortune.