4 THE ACCOUNTANT.[OCTOBER, 1874.
Bankruptcy Act which has already undergone so many changes , yet we venture to think that the remedy lies mainly in the hands of the Chief Judge and the Lord Chancellor, in whom power is vested to make and vary the rules of procedure. The alterations these officials may themselves effect would be found sufficient to repair most of the defects ; for it is not so much the general working of the Bankruptcy Act that is to be condemned as the looseness of certain formalities in the conduct of liquidations. These formalities are entirely at the discretion of the officials we mention to modify, or add to, without reference to higher authority ; and it is to be hoped the exposures which have taken place may lead Lord Cairns and his colleague to see the neccesity of reforms.
We have received from a subscriber copy of correspondence published in a provincial newspaper upon a subject which, although to some extent of only personal interest, nevertheless embraces a point which should be seriously considered by accountants. A circular is issued , stating that the member of one firm has been appointed receiver of certain pro perty, “ upon the application of a leading trade creditor.” This is followed by a joint application from two other firms, in which it is asserted that the first-named gentleman “ has been appointed receiver at the request of the debtor.” Accountant No. 1 contradicts this, and adds that it might have been easily ascertained that the assertion complained of was incorrect, and his solicitor further requests an apology from the opposition , who, however, decline to apologise, on the ground that they were justified in making the statement, whereupon the first-named gentleman,in order to clear himself with the creditors and the public, publishes the correspondence. It is not our purpose to enter into the merits of this par ticular case, but rather to call attention to the loss of dignity to the profession (to say the least) which must inevitably arise from exposures of this kind, and to urge upon accountants the necessity of taking measures to remove the blot. This is a work which the several accountants' societies in the kingdom - each having some sort of authoritative control over its members - might well take in hand.
Vice-Chancellor Hall has appointed Mr. John Henry Tilly (Messrs. Tilly & Co.) official liquidator of the Penault' Silver Lead Mining Company (Limited), in the room of Mr. J . W . Thomas.
LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANIES ACCOUNTS. By the passing of the Life Assurance Companies' Act of 1870, the accounts of all Life Assurance Com panies transacting business within the United King dom became subjected to the supervision of Govern ment, in that they were required to present annually , to the Board of Trade, in prescribed forms, copies of their revenue account and balance- sheet, in addition to (at each valuation for declaration of bonus) a valuation account of no mean dimensions (extending as it has, in some cases, to upwards of between 25 and 30 pages of closely printed matter). The Board has further assumed the power to take exception to, and demand explanation of, any items bearing, in however small a degree, a suspicious appearance . The sudden change produced by the passing of the above Act,from various, and free-and- easy systems of book -keeping, to others that necessitated the almost entire modification and alteration of the different books requisite for this somewhat exclusive business , startled to no small extent the officials holding snug appointments in the different departments of the life offices. The services of professional accountants were immediately obtained,and under their directions the many quaint old forms and books were abolished to make way for those of a more practical and useful ! nature, and adapted to facilitate the preparation of the companies' accounts in accordance with the re quirements of the Act. The magnitude of the transactions of the life assurance companies carrying on business within the United Kingdom fully demonstrates the necessity which existed for compelling them to make certain returns in specified forms. This every company has had to do, but notwithstanding that the schedules appended to the Act require detailed accounts of the same nature to be furnished in every instance, it is open to doubt whether half-a-dozen companies would, upon investigation, be found to be keeping their books upon anything approaching the same system. After the disastrous failures of the Albert and European Life Offices it is obvious that the inter ference of Government in the affairs of the surviving offices became an absolute necessity, inconvenient as it probably at first was to such as were doing com fortable and honest businesses. We should , however, be glad to see that interference go a step further, in the shape of the compulsory adoption of a good sound system of book-keeping by such offices as have not
