D.—No. 5

Postcript to Observations on the Law for Relief of Debtors and Creditors. 1. It will be necessary to make provisions to avoid the practical incumbrances which may arise in respect to the division of the Colony into Judicial Districts, and of the existence of various Registrars and Official Trustees within the same district. 2. The place at which an Insolvent Estate should be administered ought, as it would seem, to be prima facie the place at or near which the bulk of the property to be administered is situated. 3. But it would appear desirable that there should be considerable elasticity provided for the working of the machinery cf the system in that respect. 4. The particular Official Trustee in whom tbe estate should be first vested should be named in a vesting order (in ordinary cases made by the Registrar, in other cases by the Judge) of which notice should be given to the Creditors, and published in the Newspapers and Gazettes. 5. In cases where, after an original vesting order made, it should be made to appear to the Court that the estate could be more effectually administered at another place, the Court might be empowered to make a fresh vesting order transferring the estate from the original Official Trustee to the Official Trustee of the other place, and thereupon the former should transmit all documents and accounts to the latter ; so also, the Receiver of the Supreme Court fund at the one place should, if such transfer order be made, transmit a statement of the draft payments and balance to the Receiver at the other. The fund being one throughout tbe Colony there would be no substantial embarrassment in this course. The original Registrar, also, in such case, should transmit the petition, minutes, and documents, to the Registrar at the new place of administration. 6. In ordinary cases, where there is property of the estate situated within the local district of more than one Official Trustee, whether in the same Judicial District or not, it would seem that the Trustee in whom the estate is vested by order, should conduct the administration of the property in the other district through the Trustee of that district, who should act as his agent; and in such case the Receiver of the fund in the foreign district should communicate the transactions to the Receiver in the district where the first Trustee resides. Trustees acting as agents for other Trustees ought probably to be allowed half the percentage on the funds realised through them. 7. In order to prevent conflicts of jurisdiction between different judicial districts, it might be provided that when petitions have been presented in more than one Judicial District, they shall be consolidated and conducted at the place of residence of the Official Trustee named in the first vesting order; unless, on sufficient cause shown, the Judge of the District shall direct that the administration should be carried on at the other, or some other place, and should transfer the estate to the Official Trustee of that place, in which case all previous vesting orders should cease to be operative except for giving validity to acts done under them before notice of the transfer order. In such case of transfer, the petition and other documents in his custody would be transferred from Registrar to Registrar, and the accounts from Trustee to Trustee, and from Receiver to Receiver. 27th June, 1865. Alexander Johnston. ADDENDA OB ERRATA. In observations on the law for the relief of Debtors and Creditors, 111, 3 (2), before ipso facto insert " or order being drawn up," before affidavit insert " order made after," and add to the paragraph the following:—"The particular Official Trustee to whom estate to pass, to be named in order either by Registrar or Judge, and notice of the order to be duly published." (See supplementary observations on transfer of estate in postcript.) A. J. J. No. 35. The Attorney-General to Mr. Justice Johnston. Sir, — Attorney-General's Office, Wellington, 3rd July, 1865. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter of the 27th ult, with a brief postcript to obserservations on the law of Debtors and Creditors, and a note of Errata, and to convey to your Honor the thanks of the Government for the same. I have, &c, Henry Seweil. His Honor Mr. Justice Johnston, Wellington. No. 36. Mr. Justice Richmond's Reply to Queries on Law of Debtors and Creditors. Sir,— Dunedin, 14th July, 1865. I beg to forward the following replies to the Queries on the subject of the Law relating to Debtors and Creditors stated in your Circular Letter (No. 81) of 20th January last. Queries 1, 2, and 3. I think that it is undesirable to separate the Jurisdiction in Insolvency from that of the Supreme Court. A jurisdiction to take the initiatory steps in the procedure of the Supreme Court—as to receive Petitions, to grant adjudication of Insolvency in unopposed cases, to appoint a provisional Assignee, to convene the first meeting of Creditors, to authorize the sale of perishable or deteriorating stock—might advantageously be conferred upon District Judges, or Resident Magistrates specially appointed for the purpose, in places of considerable trade, where no Judge of the Supreme Court is resident. The first examination of the Insolvent might also be taken before the District Judge or Resident Magistrate so appointed.

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CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE