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im THE 1IAPER. [No. 413, PEBRUAitT 20,18...
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THE ARMY REPOET. The report of the Commi...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Bankruptcy Reform. We Shall Now Finish O...
in the subject ; and watch and report upon the scope , character , and intent of the measure that hraB been forced upon the present Government by the unanimous cry of the mercantile classes for an improved commercial tribunal . Apart from the fact that bad lav , and bad law administration , make bad morals , the existence of such a court warrants a fall discussion when we knowthat in its present state , with all the prejudice and indignation felt against it by the trading community , it receives assets in the course of the year amounting , at a fair calculation , to four hundred thousand pounds , two-thirds of which it retains or wastes , distributing one-third only to the
creditors . The first thing required is a total' reconstruction of the present dirty , inconvenient , crowded , and badly ventilated series of courts in Basinghall-street . Even for the business that now flows to them they are miserably inadequate ; and this reform may be easily carried out by taking in the long * dark , gloomy passages that lead to nowhere , and building over the court-yard , which in its present state exists for no other purpose than to collect rain-water .
The next requirement is the centralization of Assignees ( of course , we are speaking of the London Court of Bankruptcy ) . Instead of being scattered about the City in offices suited to their notions of expenditure ot individual tastes , these gentlemen—^ -as many of them as it is desirable to maintain—should be collected in a wing of the court easy of access , open to the creditors at any time by right and not by favour , and provided wdtn good fire-proof vaults for bankrupts' accountbooks and documents .
The Commissioners—as many of them as it may he desirable to retain—should sit every business day of the year from ten to five , and be accessible at any time if required . The office of Registrar should be abolished , its duties being transferred to the Commissioner and the Official Assignee . The Messenger and Broker should also be discharged , the law being quite stringent enough , if enforced , to compel a bankrupt to guard for a few days what little property he has left when he comes to the court : and
the sale can be effected in the ordinary wa ^ , by auction , under the guidance of the Official Assignee . The office of the Accountant in . Bankruptcy should be abolished , there being quite checking power enough between the Commissioner and the Official Assignee if pro- * perly exercised . The first qualification of a Commissioner should be a knowledge of trading and
mercantile accounts , and the ordinary operations of commerce . After this may come law , which in this court , if the administration of assets is to be retained , ought to be seldom required . Tyro active , well-selected , qualified Commissioners ( instead of five ) could do the work well , not only now ,, but for some time to come , allowing for the probable increase in the business of the court .
There is no objection to the nunVber of Official Assignees appointed , in reason ^ but TblieyiiKml 6 rb ~ e ~ l ^^ commission upon the dividend , not upon the assets . The appointment should bo taken from the Lord Chancellor , and thrown open to public competition at the innimtom Balory and commission , provision being made for integrity by the usual mercantile process of a guarantee from a public company .
This improvement in the orgaaiitaUon of tho court would tend to reduce the charges of the solicitor working the Jiat , which
charges now amount to twenty-six per cent , of the realized assets . ¦ " With regard to improvements in the law of Bankruptcy , there are many that may be and must be made for the benefit of the trading classes . The first power that the court requires , is the power of suing out claims upon the debtors of bankrupt estates , without having to transfer the action to one of the ordinary law courts- Arrangements should be made to do this in in a cheap and efficacious manner , and the expense should fall upon the estate , but not , in the event of insufficient funds , upon tlie Official Assignee .
Compromises of claims should be effected speedily and legally by the Official Assignee , with the concurrence of the Trade Assignee , without the intervention of the solicitor . The expenses of the Trade Assignee should in all cases be paid , and compensation be given to him for time and labour expended in working and benefiting an estate , of which he of all men must have the most knowledge and experience . A rule should be made enforcing the taking of all proofs iu private ( creditors only being present ) , and also trader debtor
summonses . A certificate should not only absolve a bankrupt from all debts up to the date of the Jiat , but from all engagements—bonds , leases , and endorsements of bills . With respect to the severity of the bankrupt law , the penal clauses are now sufficiently stringent ( consistently with the freedom of trade ) if they were only honestly and fearlessly carried out .
Im The 1iaper. [No. 413, Pebruaitt 20,18...
im THE 1 IAPER . [ No . 413 , PEBRUAitT 20 , 185 & .
The Army Repoet. The Report Of The Commi...
THE ARMY REPOET . The report of the Commission to Inquire into the Sanitary Condition of the British Army lias excited a great amount of interest , and might well do so ; for the conclusions to be drawn from , its revelations are of the most distressing kind . The high mortality of our army generally , with the vast excess as regards one particular section of it , has excited almost as much , indignation as astonishment . Not only does the report set forth the facts of this extreme liability to death . In our soldiers , but it gives such a complete exposure of their whole condition as seems to put us on the direct track of the causes to which this terrible result is to bo attributed .
A very little soarch brings us to the conclusion that there is hardly one influence to which the British soldier is subject that is not deleterious to his health , The dwelling provided for him seems to have been specially adapted to mako l j im uncomfortable and ill ; so with his food , his clothing , and his occupation . His clothing is of such a kind as leaves him exposed to the worst influences of oar climate—or of any other , indeed , into which his duty may carry him . His occupation is so ill- regulated that , slight as it is compared with that of the labourer , from which class he is generally taken , it is fatiguing to the death from excess of monotony . This
monotony being , from first to last , the impending fate—the crushing evil of the soldior ' s life—finds its climax in the unvaried sameness of his food , with its inevitable tendency to enorvato and ultimately destroy tho digostivo organs . Wearied with the eternal monotony of his daily duty , and with his stomach in revoit at tho changelossncss of boilod beef set dailjr before him , ho is in fit condition to bo the victim of tho fatal jniaama of the barrack-room , jyithjts hundreds of buJgksido touching side , and fivnrv THiinlf fiiirl Wriv ! 7 w > ai r > nn ?> rl ~ -t rt ~'" "lfrtnrv ^ -niTf :
draughts . ' , Ho flios , for chnngo , to drink , and to other debauchery ; ho soon finds—or rather tho military dootor soon finds , that pulmonary consumption lms found a well-prepared victim ; and the country soon has to supply his places with another man , in tho bloom of lite , perfect in . wind and limb —to be killed inch b y inoh with tho fatal monotony that had sapped tho foundation of Ilia life—to die , at lenglh , hko him , of pulmonary consumption . But putting aside all fooling , the more money cost of this wasted soldior-matorinl is no serious as
to demand immediate attention . The British army is the costliest in the world , considered with , reference to the number of men composing it ; and there is little doubt that a leading cause of this costliness is the wanton extravagance that characterizes all the army expenditure . The very first consideration would naturally be the maintenance of the foroes in a state of the utmost efficiency ; and for that purpose no reasonable amount of money would be grudged by the country ; but it is plain that we have the enormous cost without the efficiency ; for an army—whatever its bravery and discipline—can never be considered as properly
efficient while death is m the heart and lungs of the very flower of its men . An army , to be in high condition , must possess not only technical knowledge of its duties , but perfect physical abilit y to perform them . The pale Guardsman may storm the heights of new Almas , and astonish the world by his pluck and bravery ; but what more would he not do if the heavy hand of death were not upon his vital parts ? There is , however , no need to prove the necessity for reform , since the report puts the matter beyond question ; all that need be urged is that the reform demanded is one . in every way practicable .
Apparently , we should begin at ouee with the barrack , to which , the report traces , at least , au unquestionable predisposing cause of the mortality among our soldiers . The work is , in fact , already under weigh , and only requires to be watched with an eye to remedy the evils demonstrated by the report . Several large sums are named in the army estimates of the present year fdr new barracks ; let these barracks be perfected so as to serve as a type of the buildings required for the healthy lodgment -of the army . Then , with regard to the clothing suppliod , there can be no serious doubt but that it is greatly deficient in the dualities most essential to the health
and comfort of the men . Great expectations were raised by the improved system on which the army is at present clothed ; but , just tis in 1853 we reorganized the Indian Government , and now find it necessary again to reorganize it , so , having revised the Colonel-system of clothing our soldiers , we are now ca lled upon to revise the contract-system under whiclrthey are at present clothed . We have still to get rid of coats that will not keep out either wind , or water , and caps that are—not even very sightly . But one of the most important reforms demanded , to give the British soldier a fair chance of health—but possibly the most difficult of
attainment , from the horror felt by military authority at the thought of ' change '—is such an arrangement of drill and barrack duty as will not weigh down the soldier ' s spirit by its monotony . Tliis reform cannot be too strongly insisted on , for without it , whatever else is done to alleviate his sanitary condition , will be but partially successful . The next most important reform must totally change the present mode of feeding him ; variety of wholesome food is * as absolutely necessary to his physioal wellbeing as cheerful exercise . At present the soldier is slop-clothed and slop-fed , at a cost to the country amply sufficient to provide him with food and
clothing adequate to his preservation in health and military efficiency . Again , in spile of all that has boon said , and , as tho country supposes , done , to improve the condition of the army hospitals , they arc a disgrace to all concerned in them , as is shown by a pamphlet , by Mr . George Eedforp , lately issued . This brochure will demand a closer attention : it presents tho outline of a complcto hospital corps , dispersed among the regiment , or concentrated for duty , always ready where it is wanted , with medicines , stretchers , and instruments to its hand . Not the shadow of a doubt is left by tho report o , s to the necessity of an immediate revision of the regulations undor which tlie soldier passes the
greater part of his life j and too much praise cannot bo given to Mr . Sidnky Hmubeiix for the manner in which ho oonduotod tho inquiry and propared tho report , whioh brings tho whole condition of tho soldier before us at one view . Especial pvaise-i 8-duo ~ to 4 um ^ ouo ~ qUj » ojflOi ^^^ men of tho day—for his morciloss scrutiny ol irfriiiy things tlmt ruder minds miglit have shrunk i ' rom looking into . How much attention ho had paid to the condition of tho array wo knew bofore ; and wo ¦ knew that tho later improvements of tho pfOHont Minister woi'o but continuations of those sot on foot by Mr . Hjsujbjsut ; but yte oould wot , until I ho publication of tho report , know how oomplotoly he has made himsolf master of tho whole subject . This subject wo shall ourbelvos tako up from tho roport , seotion by seotion .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 20, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20021858/page/14/
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