THE LORD CHANCELLOR,having presented a petition, signed by upwards of 3,000 bankers and tradesmen of the metropolis, in favour of an Amendment of the Laws of Bankruptcy and Insolvency, said, that upon accepting office Her Majesty's Government turned their attention with the greatest possible anxiety to the state of these laws, with the view of introducing some measure for their improvement. As their Lordships were aware, it was a subject of very great difficulty and complexity to deal with; but he trusted that in the course of a very few days he should be able to present a Bill which would embody in its provisions all the principal Amendments that were generally required by the commercial world, and which in other respects their Lordships would consider to be a very great improvement of the existing laws.
LORD BROUGHAMsaid, he was gratified to hear that his noble and learned Friend on the woolsack had turned his attention to this important subject. He might, however, inform his noble and learned Friend that a measure on the same subject had been prepared under the superintendence of the Chambers of Commerce of the principal commercial and trading towns in the kingdom, and would very shortly be presented to the House of Commons by a noble Friend (Lord John Russell). The Chambers of Commerce, the real representatives of the mercantile 1998 community, were decided on the necessity of maintaining the office of official assignee, and of remunerating that officer in a proper manner. This was the declared opinion of all the delegates from the various commercial bodies who had met at the Social Science Congress last October, and had since discussed the provisions of the Bill about to come before the other House.
LORD CAMPBELLexpressed his regret that the measure referred to by the noble and learned Lord (Lord Brougham) had not been introduced into that House, in order that it and the Bill promised by the Government might be referred together to the same Select Committee.