ation by the Board of Trade of unclaimed
dividends and undistributed balances on estates wound up under previous
bankruptcy acts (s. 162). Lastly, it amends the procedure under the Debtors
Act of 1869, dealing with criminal offences committed by bankrupts (which,
prior to 1869, had been treated as part of the bankruptcy law), by enacting
that when the court orders a prosecution of any person for an offence under
that act, it shall be the duty of the director of public prosecutions to
institute and carry on the prosecution.

[Sidenote: Act of 1890.]

An amending act, under the title of the Bankruptcy Act 1890 was passed in
that year, mainly with the view of supplementing and strengthening some of
the provisions of the act of 1883, more particularly with regard to the
conditions under which a bankrupt should be discharged or schemes of
arrangement or composition be approved by the court. It also dealt with a
variety of matters of detail which experience had shown to require
amendment, with the view of more fully carrying out the intentions of the
legislature as embodied in the principal act. These two acts are to be
construed as one and may be cited collectively as the Bankruptcy Acts 1883
and 1890. They are further supplemented by a large body of general rules
made by the lord chancellor with the concurrence of the president of the
Board of Trade, which may be added to, revoked or altered from time to time
by the same authority. These rules are laid before parliament and have the
force of law.

[Sidenote: Special Acts.]

Besides these general acts, various measures dealing with special interests
connected with bankruptcy procedure have from time to time been passed
since 1883, the chief of which are as follows, _viz_., the Bankruptcy
Appeals (County Courts) Act 1884; the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy
Act 1888, regulating the priority of the claims of workmen and clerks, &c.
for wages and salaries; and the Bankruptcy (Discharge and Closure) Act
1887, dealing with unclosed bankruptcies under previous acts.

[Sidenote: Inquiry of 1906.]

It would be out of place in this article to attempt to answer the question
how far later legislation has solved the difficult problems which prior to
1883 were found so intractable, but it may be mentioned that in 1906 the
Board of Trade appointed a committee to inquire into and report upon the
effect of the provisions of the laws in force at the time in the United
Kingdom in re