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218 THE LEADER . [ No . 464 , Eebrttary 12 , 1859 .
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BANKRUPTCY BILL . When a gentleman requires a new _ suit he does noi apply to one of those ingenious artists who , for the safesmen of Holy well-street or Houndsditch , make cast-off garments look like new . He applies tc Nichol or Moses , or some other merchant-tailor . IJ he be particularly choice in his apparel his vests are made by one professional , his nether clothing My a secondi and his <; pats by a third . Or if he want a dog-kennel built , or resolve to erect a mansion , he goes to an architect for a plan , and never employs the working bricklayer or carpenter both to design and do the work . Division of labour is carried to an astonishing . extent in our private affairs , and the man who carries the hod does not lay the bricks . In public affairs we act differently , and a Nisi Prius lawyer , who has been a his fife darning and mending suits , or putting together the odds and ends of broken _ pleaSj turning them into cases , having become a Lord Chancellor by the exigencies of a political party , is at once found qualified to frame the most important legislation . ^ Lawyers , as the rule , niake bad statesmen , and worse legislators . Skill of all kinds is more a mental habit than dexterity in the handsj and we might as well expect statesmanlike views . from the parish beadle as comprehensive legislation from men whose minds are formed by the minute details and sharp practices of our courts of law . We are not , therefore , surprised that the Lord Chancellor has only proposed to set a ¦ " patch " on our bankruptcy faws , not to make or even consolidate a code . The noble Lord should not , however , be urged beyond his last , for be must be incapable of any but routine and official greatness . His poor excuse for adding another patch to the Prisoners Act , the Protection Act , the Bankrupt Act , and the Insolvent Act , is the difficulty of at once getting , the assent of Parliament to , a new . or enlarged principle , and combining it wii ? li an act consolidating ' the old laws , A statesman would have got this terrible lion out of his path , and given us a consolidated code by procuring from both Houses a joint resolution that it is desirable to administer' all insolvency in one court and on one principle . Haying got the assent of both Houses to that resolution , which carries with it all the . proposed reforms , he would have been sure of obtaining the assent of both Houses to the measure which should carry out in a reasonable manner that principle , and consolidate into one code all the laws concerning insolvency . To such a comprehensive scheme tbe mind of the Nisi Priu , s lawyer is unequal , and tlio Lord Chancellor proposes to increase our difficulties by introducing a new law , and leaving the old one tuHUtei'ed and unrepealed . In the same rude manner our legislation has been conducted time out of mind , as Mr . Ghadwick and . Sir James Stephen lately bore witness , and so it will be conducted to the end of society unless some means be devised for bringing it completely within the influence of that : living prinoiple of progress—the division and incessant subdivision of labour . We point our remarks more against the system than the individual . Lord Chancellor Thesiger has done as well as other Lord Chancellors , and as well as could bo expected of him . . . We can scarcely describe his measure from tho report of his speech , muoh less comment on it . It substitutes one system oflaws and one court , to be palled the Insolvent Court , for bankrupt traders and insolvont non-traders , but ho only allows the latter to havo the benefit of tho aob , or exposes tli ' om to its provisions when they apply for it , whon they have loft the . country , or wdion they hayo inourrod judgment debts , and , failed to satisfy , their creditors . At present ,, passing through a bankruptcy oouvt sets a man , perfectly , freo , mid ' all tho property ho afterwards . acquires * is hie own * Tlio property of . a discharged iuBoAvonfo , afterwards aoquired ; to still liable for his * former debts . There aro ninny difll-, culties connected vn % \ i p lacing an insolvont on the same footing as- a bankrupt , such as arise from entailed estates ,, and piopovty aftorwnvdtt inhoritod or subsequently accidentall y acquired , Apparently , however , tho pmoinha which , should guiclo the . legislator , is , that , thoi , oircdUorflj should , huvo . oln . ima only on the property which ; tiuai debton might be
likely to inherit wlien he contracted the debts , and the expectation of which influenced the creditor to ' trust him . All other property acquired after insol-; vency should be free . The bill will place the white' washed insolvent in this respect on the same footing ' as the certified bankrupt , and set all the property he ; subsequently acquires free from the claims of his ! previous creditors . It restrains , not abolishes , \ imprisonment for debt on final process ; and a debtor ' likely to abscond , who has fraudulently contracted or I vexatiouslv defended a debt , or who has incurred , damages in au action of tort , will be still liable to \ confinement . A bankrupt may , according to the bill , be kept without a certificate for five years , but ' he is not to be , as he may at present , for ever ! deprived of it . TJie Lord Chancellor properly refuses to allow the Insolvent Court to take cog-;'• nisance of offences of the class of misdemeanours , and will not sanction a man being punished as a ' criminal unless convicted by the . ordinary criminal courts . There are , probably , other alterations equally important projected , but the public cannot acquire an accurate knowledge of them till the bill be printed ^ So far as it goes and we understand it , it seems an improvement , but providing no more effectual means than are at present in use for 1 winding up insolvent estates , and still subjecting ¦ every case of insolvency and bankruptcy to costly 1 proceedings in law courts , instead of legalising favourable and quiet compromises and settlements ; by the mutual agreements of creditors and debtors : without the help of a cour t , it falls far . short of what the . mercantile community demands / and will by-and-by command . - 1 The Lord Chancellor has also introduced a measure to improve and consolidate the Winding-up ! Acts . . In this case he recognises the propriety of ' doing what he declines to do in the other . His ; conduct , therefore , is not . guided by principle , but by some of those small considerations which statesmen discard and lawyers cling to . The acts lie proposes to consolidate and improve are entirely of modem date , and their many defects * originating with the profession ; justify the opinion that lawyers make bad legislators . The Lord Chancellor ' bill may , however , improve the Winding-up Acts , for in their present . form they arc considered to be little better than a nuisance . t .
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and speculation , have been moderate . The latest advices from New York state that the receipts of cotton continue to be large , and that in the northern parts prices have somewhat advanced . Manchester . —The markets were rather dull at the outset , but became animated as the week progressed , and as the hostile appearances on the Continent mitigated . But the cause which gave the market its renewed impetus was the last information from India , which went to show that markets there were not overstocked , and that further supplies might be safely sent forward . Buyers are in the market for India and China goods , but they do not transact as much business as they want on account of the disinclination of manufacturers and spinners to give way in prices . For India 5 O ' s and GO ' s mules and 30 ' s water are in request , and 16 ' s to 24 ' s water for China . The latest advices from India being considered of a very favourable nature , shirting . ? , madapollams , jaconets , and other cloths suited for the Eastern markets , were freely bought . The German buyers operated , but not to anj r extent . The export trade to the Mediterranean has been very slack in consequence of the unsettled aspect of affairs . Leeds . — Light fabrics continue in request , but fine goods are slack of demand . The markets may be considered quiet , but the trade is in a healthy condition , and prices are good . The White and Coloured halls have been tolerably well attended . Huddersfield . —The shipping trade is dull for the season , but this cannot be wondered at . The home and provincial trade is brisk , and in some d ascriptions of goods an advance of price lias been Obtained . Rochdale . — -Th ere is an impression that full trade will soon take the place of the comparative slackness that has shown itself lately . Trices are considered not quite sp firm , but the future is looked forward to with confidence . Bradfokd . t-Market for wool dull . The high prices of the finer sorts check trade- The colonial wool sales which are approaching principally engage attention . Leicester and Nottingham . —The hosiery trade continues good ; the lace trade still keeps very dull . Birmingham . —Tho hardware trade is quiet , but makers do not complain of any serious slackness . Coal Trade . —The dissatisfaction among the coal-miners in some of the South Staffordshire districts is not quite at an end . The trade generally is very fair . Belfast . — -The spring trade is generally good , and the operatives appear to be experiencing the benefit as well as the manufacturers and dealers .
London , Friday Evening . All the markets of the country continue to be well supplied , and there being no . increased demand there is no tendency to a rise in prices . Some persons began to speculate on the possibility of war enhancing prices by the . double operation of increasing consumption and diminishing production , but the . speculation has not yet assumed a practical existence , and the corn markets , which would probably be the first to feel it , are quite inert . The price of wheat this week is much , the same as last week . Sugar , exhibits symptoms of firmness , but , on the whole , the markets are remarkably steady and dull . For the merchant this is not pleasant , for the consumer it is advantageous . His wants are supplied on fair and little varying terms . This has been a quiet weok in tho manufacturing districts generally , but those branches of trade ana manufactures oonnected with India and China commerce have felt renewed activity . The warlike preparations on the Continent , in spite of pacific declarations , continue to affect every branch of commerce injuriously . Though there is no positive fulling off jin any pnvtioular branch of staple manufacture , etill it is admitted on all sides that tho promise of general activity which the oloso of laet year presented has . beon entirely dissipated by tho sayings an ( 1 doings of Tower © on the Continent , who aro waiting , as many , people conjecture , but for a decent pretext to attack each other . Until the oertainty of unbroken peace is more confirmed , it will be in vajn to expect that either our homq or our foreign trade yvJlli experience thai ; expansion whjch ought to take place under the combined action of unusually olieap money , and biwo murkota . LivwnrooL . t Tho cotton business was slack during , tho , early period of tho woek , but booam © briBk within the lftst . dny ov > two . Prices , however , oon Unuo , wltJjaat . t .. tewitlon . The sales , both for expor ^
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RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE .
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The half-yearly meeting of the Gloucester niul Denn Forest Railway Company was held at Gloucester on Saturday . A dividend of 12 a . Gd . per sliaro vras agreed to . TUe ceremony of raising tho first sod of tho lijio of . railway which is about to bo constructed at Stratfordupon-Avon took place on Tuesday . The lialf-yoarly meeting of tho West-end of London and Crystal Palace Railway Company is culled for the 24 fu inst ., and will bo made special , to consider " eortnhi proposocl arnuigcmonts with reference to Uic liromley and Farnborough Extension . " The Great Southern of India Ruilwny Company have notified that tho scrip must bo sent in for rogi . * lruUo » and for oxehange for share certificates by tho 'Jo ' lh inst ., under penalty of forfeiture . The securities of the Grand Trunk Ktiilwny Company of Canada havo boon unfavourably nfl ' ucteil . l » y t ' j official explanations respecting tho uomiuul for additional capital . Tho httlf-yoarly gonoral mooting of shareholders ol tho South-Western Railway Compnny wns huhl o » Thursday at tho AVatorloo terminus . CharUw Caatleinnn , Ehq ., chairman of tho company , presided . Thu report having boon read and a lUvidoml for the hulf-yoar at tlio rato of 5 / . 15 a . por annum ngrooil to , tho ehulrninn stated that tho dispute with tho London iuul Urltflilon Company was on tho ova of amioablo settlement . A very hoatod diacuaaion , took place upon tho ( juodtlon 01 incroasocl romunoration to tho dirootors , whioh u w " ^[ y longtli sofcllod should bo HQQQl . a year inetoud oi boov / . A proposal to inuroaao tho salarioa of tho midltora wn « nogutivod . Tho resolution , approving of tho Ioiibo 10 tho oomiiany of tho undortnUiiig of tho S » llsL >» iry mm Yoovll Company , and tho trnnsfor of tho l ' orim » oM »» Railway absolutely to tho company , together with *¦*¦*•** confoaing power on tho directors to Uo « l acooruJng w
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GENERAL TRADE REPORT .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 12, 1859, page 218, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2281/page/26/
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