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7. That no debtor should be allowed to file his schedule who shall not have the value of £25 in genuine assets over and above the £25 value of furniture or tools in trade as provided for in the existing Act; and that, in the event of the debtor having no furniture or tools in trade, then he must have the value of £25 in genuine assets in order to entitle him to the protection of the Court. 8. That any insolvent debtor who might not have received his discharge, and who should have, subsequently to his declaration of insolvency, obtained goods on credit without eventually paying for them, should, unless he have informed the creditor previously to the purchase of such goods that he was an undischarged bankrupt, be held guilty of a misdemeanour. 9. That any absconding debtor might be arrested by authority of a telegraphic despatch, signed by a Resident Magistrate, or two Magistrates, after a creditor or creditors shall have made an affidavit to that effect. 10. The Conference would recommend that clause 83 of Act 1870, which refers to distress for rent, should remain as it is. 11. That section 185, Act 1576, which reads as follows, be repealed : —" If no order of discharge shall bo made within a period of three years from the date of the bankruptcy, a debtor shall nevertheless be deemed absolutely discharged at the end of that period." 12. That no debtor, who shall have failed to satisfy the Court that his insolvency arose from circumstances beyond his control, should be allowed to occupy any public official position until he shall have paid a dividend of not less than ten shillings in the pound to all his proved creditors. 13. That, in respect of all cases arising out of fraudulent or alleged fraudulent disposal of property by the debtor, the Judges in Bankruptcy should have jurisdiction to deal with the same summarily, ou a summons issued by the public officer or assignee against the debtor, or any other person holding property of the debtor's, in the same manner and with the same jurisdiction that the Supreme Court or a Judge now has to make order, decree, or judgment, upon being satisfied on evidence that the public officer or assignee is entitled to such property. 14. The Conference would make a general recommendation, which it regards as of the highest importance, and which the Legislature should keep constantly in view in framing new measures. It is : that the whole machinery of the bankruptcy law should be so devised and regulated as to make proceedings in bankruptcy, from the filing of the declaration of insolvency to the final discharge of the debtor, as simple and as inexpensive as possible ; and further, that, in compiling and framing any new Act, Government should seek the assistance of men of large mercantile administrative and legal experience. 15. That the legal charges incurred by the debtor and payable out of the estate should in no case exceed £10 in addition to Court fees : That the costs of the solicitor to the assignee should, in respect of each estate, not exceed £20, but that the Judge might have power to order payment of additional costs if he should consider the same reasonable and necessary : That the Judges in bankruptcy should in all cases decide what expenses, if any, should be payable out of the estate, and that no costs whatever should be paid without the order of the Judge : That at the Registrar's office in each bankruptcy district, and at every post office in towns where fhere may be no Registrar's office, printed forms, with the necessary stamp, should be obtainable by debtors for filing their declaration and making the requisite statement of their assets and liabilities; any other forms required by a debtor in filing his schedule should also be similarly provided ; and the witnessing of the signature of the debtor to the papers by the postmaster or a Justice of the Peace should be deemed sufficient evidence of their legal execution. 16. That the bankruptcy of a debtor should be deemed to have relation back to the first of the acts of insolvency that may be proved to have been committed by the bankrupt within twelve months next preceding to the declaration of insolvency or order of adjudication (see clause 11, English Bankruptcy Act, 1869, and Mr. Judge Ward's reply, page 4, Replies on Bankruptcy, 1880). 17. That in the case of any debtor in receipt of a certain income that may come before the Court, the Judge in Bankruptcy should decide what proportion of same should be set aside for the payment of dividend to the creditors of the debtor, and to what time the payment of such instalments shall extend. 18. That the onus of proof should lie with the debtor as to his solvency at the time of making any settlement respecting the validity of which a question may be raised by the assignee. 19. That no solicitor should have any lien on deeds in his possession excepting for the actual costs in respect of the preparation of any deed that he may hold in relation to property of the debtor. 20. In regard to bills of sale the Conference is of opinion that, in practice, the majority of instances where a trader gives such an instrument upon his stock-in-trade, an act of bankruptcy or a fraud is committed by the assignor. But in providing a remedy, if indeed any remedy be possible, for this evil, a clear distinction should be made between bills of sale given by needy traders over goods for which they have not paid, and similar instruments given by farmers, manufacturers, or contractors. Farming and other important industries would be greatly fettered if, in respect of the purchase of any article in the nature of machinery or plant, a bill of sale, given by the buyer to the seller upon such specific article or articles, at the time of the purchase, for any unpaid portion of the purchase-money, should not, if duly registered, be held absolutely valid as against the assignee in bankruptcy or the claims of antecedent creditors. The Conference would deprecate any legislation that would hamper or interfere with legitimate transactions of this nature. The great abuse lies with traders who give to one favoured or pressing creditor a bill of sale for a past debt on stock-in-trade in respect of which they have liabilities to other creditors, or where a trader in desperate circumstances gives a bill of sale over his stock-in-trade (in respect of which he owes money) to a money-lender for a temporary advance at an exorbitant rate of interest; the invariable result is that the trader eventually becomes insolvent, and the creditors find themselves plundered, and powerless, owing to the defects of the existing law, to upset the bill of sale, although the giving of it may be not only an act of bankruptcy, but a gross fraud (for defect of the law, see clause 4, Act 1879). A remedy has been suggested to the effect that all bills of sale given within three months of the bankruptcy of the assignor should be held invalid, unless given for a bond fide present-cash advance. But any provision of this kind could be easily evaded by the passing of fictitious cheques. The only apparently effectual remedy that the Conference can suggest is, that any

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