Lord Cairns introduced his Bankruptcy Bill on Monday, in an
excellent descriptive speech, in which he told the Lerds that the plan of leaving creditors to look after their debts had failed ; that liquidations by arrangement or composition had risen from 3,651 in 1870 to 8,566 in 1877, while in 75 per cent. of the cases the dividend declared was under 5s. in the pound. In only nine cases were the creditors paid in full. Liquidation, moreover, had become a trade ; trustees canvassed for the appointment, and absorbed, as a rule, above 30 per cent. of the assets, while delaying settlements in order to obtain interest on the bal- ances in their hands. The total loss to the community was not under eighteen millions a year, most of which ultimately fell upon consumers, who were charged prices to compensate traders for bad debts. He proposed, therefore, to appoint a new Judge of the Bankruptcy Court, who would specially watch over bankruptcy, to order all -balances to be paid into Court, to refuse certificates where the dividend is under 5s. in the pound, to limit the profits of liquidators by a maximum, and to make certain improvements of detail, the effect of which will be to enable the Judge in Bankruptcy to prevent collu- sion between part of the creditors, the debtor, and the liquid- ators. The Bill is a great improvement, though we doubt, from a long study of these efforts, whether any Bill will work. Why not refuse a certificate to any debtor paying less than 12s. in the pound, unless the Judge, on a general review of the facts, declares the debtor's case a special one ?
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