WORKING OF THE SMALL DEBT ACT.
Wnmea litigants are reasonable, and cases simple, the Small Debt Act is working well. A debtor and a creditor appear before the Commissioner ; who cuts a long story short by asking whe- ther the debtor is not prepared to make an offer? payment of 1/. per month till the debt is liquidated is offered; 2/. 10s. per month is asked ; the Commissioner orders 30s.; and both parties leave the court satisfied. Again, an enlargement of time is asked for the defendent : " Does the other party object ? " asks the Commissioner. " The other party is not present." " Then, dismiss the summons for his non-attendance." The work is done, and well done, without the mystification and loss of time occasioned by obsolete and useless forms. Still, when recusant debtors come into the field, hitches in the working of the act do appear, which give cause to regret that the Commons' "amend- ments" should have been hurried through the Upper House with that railroad speed which defied examination. Among the addi- tions made to the bill in the House of Commons, is a table of fees, on a scale to rejoice the hearts of the most penny-wise of members. An application was _made in the Bankruptcy Court of Lon- , don, last Saturday, to have a defendant who did not make Appearance committed to the County Gaol of Essex : where- sip= the Commissioner bluntly expressed his opinion that the tram Af6d. per mile, allowed "for carrying every plaintiff, de- fendant, or delinquent to prison, (including all expenses and as- sistants,) " was, when there was any distance to travel, ludicrously inadequate. When the average rate of travelling-expenses is taken into account, the doubts of the Commissioner appear not unfounded. It will be an awkward circumstance if the lieges are deprived of the benefit of so good a measure simply because its economical authors have reduced the allowances to officers so low that they cannot afford to take delinquents to prison. Fancy an insolvent " bum" applying to be passed, and accounting for his deficiency by the expenses he had incurred in carrying par ties committed under the new Small Debt Act to prison. If the scale of fees is really too low to work, there is no help but in Par- liament; for the Secretary of State may lessen, but cannot in- crease it. If the act had been regularly and deliberately passed, it might have occurred to some noble and learned Lord to inquire whether it was practicable to convey prisoners to gaol for the sum allowed.
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