The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 401, 12 November 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1868.

After nearly a year's experience the Bankruptcy Act of ISG7 was found seriously wanting, and during the past session of the Assembly an Amendment Act h'ts been passed, and is now in force, remedying, at least, many, if not all, the evils complained of. One of the complaints made in connectio i with the original measure was that declarations of insolvency were necessarily published in the Gazette of the province in which they took place. Ln many instances the publication of those widely read periodicals took place,possibly, a hundred miies or more tVpro the iocality in which the insolvent carried on business, and after entombing the notice in this literary mausoleum he .vas free to bid defiance to his creditors; so weeks, in many cases, elapsed before they knew that the law had thrown its shield over him. The opportunities thus afforded to unprincipled and unscrupulous men I were great, and, as may without dimcully be imagined, not a few have diily availed themselves of the privileges afforded by disposing of all that was availableandlevan tin? with the proceeds before any announcem nt of the insolvency reached the ears of astonished creditors. On the other hand, honest debtors, most anxious to do justice to all their creditors, have had their property swept away by one, before they could fulfil this requirement of the law. This has been especially the case on the coast, where, owing to bad weather and consequent irregularity of communication, a fortnight has fre-

quently elapsed, and even more, between the declaration of insolvency and its appearance in the Gazette, or at least till the Gazette containing it was to hand. In the meauwhile, of course, the early executions had swept away all assets, and those late in taking proceedings, and those at a distance, were hopelessly shut out from all chance of dividends. By the 3rd clause of the Amendment referred to, this is put an end to, for it states that "It shall be lawful for the judge or judges of each judicial district of the Supreme Court, to appoint from time to time, by general order, any Gazette or Newspaper, published within his or their judicial district, to be a Gazette for the purpose of the said Act. and either for the whole of the judicial district or for any part or parts thereof, and publication in such Gazette or Newspaper is referred to in the said Act as gazetting." Thus an insolvency can be legally declared in Westpori, Charleston, Brighton, Greymouth or other places, where an official gazette, in the strict sense of the term, is not published but where a newspaper has been appointed a gazette, as above, by a judge's order. If sufficient grounds are shown, and tkis is easy, no difficulty will be made in this respect. Tory shortly, no doubt, all newspapers on the Coast or elsewhere, at a distance from the place of the gazette's publication, will be authorised in this respect. In lieu of the 52nd section of the original Act, the following has been substituted, "Until the expiration of ten days after the notice has been gazetted, exclusive of

the day of such gazetting, the debtor shall not be deemed to have committed an act of bankruptcy by filing the declaration, but if within five days after the expiration of that period often days, proceedings to obtain adjudieaion against him are taken by a creditor, or if proceedings are not so taken, then, within three days after the expiration of that period of five days, such proceedings are taken by the debtor, then and in either of those cases, but not otherwise, the debtor shall be deemed to have committed an act of bankruptcy." The following clauses provide that in case of the non-atten-dance of creditors to electa trustee, the Registrar may act as such ; that the Courb may appoint, in such cases, a trustee to act in lieu of the provisional trustee; that such appointments be gazetted; that creditors may apply for the estate to be vested in provincial trustee, on notice of such application being given to the debtor, and other details in connection with these provisions. Recently, it may be re- j

membered, it was ruled, we believe by Chief Justice Arney, that where a creditor has imprisoned a debtor for a I full term he could not issue a distress warrant against goods. The same does not apply now in insolvency, at all events, for creditors may prove for the amount of their debts under the new Act, whether such imprisonment shall have taken place or not. Und ■> the Act, as it lately stood, no judge had power to discharge a debtor from custody whether he tiled his petition and was adjudicated iusohent or not; bv the Act iu question, this power i given to the Court, though the fact of filing a declaration of insolvency does not release, and a judge's ordei must be obtained. The remaining clauses provide for the remuneration of acting trustees out of estates, thai trustees are to furnish account* an. information, and in the 293 th sect ion of the original Act the word " provable " is to be substituted for the \yor " probable " as it there stood. Altogether it would appear th.-i some great defects have beei remedied, and though this late'**" Hi tion of legislation on such a difficult subject, may uot be nearly approaching perfection, it is at least one more step in advance.