lation to bankruptcy, deeds of arrangement and composition by
insolvent debtors with their creditors, and the prevention and punishment
of frauds by debtors on their creditors, and any points and matters upon
which the existing laws seemed to require amendment. The committee received
a vast amount of evidence as well as documents and memoranda from chambers
of commerce, trade protection societies and influential public bodies. The
scope of the inquiry was not limited to English law and procedure, but also
embraced that of Germany, France, Australia, Scotland and Ireland. The
report of the committee was issued in 1908 (Cd. 4068), and reference may be
made to it for much valuable information. The committee reported that the
result of their inquiry did not disclose any dissatisfaction on the part of
the commercial community with the main features of the existing law and
procedure. But there were certain special incidents of the law and branches
of its administration upon which the committee made recommendations. One
was the prosecution and punishment of debtors who had committed fraud on
their creditors or caused loss to them by improper and reckless trading.
The existing procedure was complained of as being dilatory, cumbersome and
expensive, and the committee were of an opinion that where a debtor had
committed an offence for which he could and ought to be prosecuted,
prosecution and conviction, with adequate punishment, ought to follow
speedily and decisively, and the chief recommendation of the committee was
that, while the existing procedure should be left untouched, offences ought
also to be punishable on summary conviction before magistrates and
justices, and the provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts applied to
them, and that where an order for a prosecution is made on an application
by the official receiver of a bankruptcy court and based on his report,
that court should have power to order the official receiver to conduct the
prosecution before the court of summary jurisdiction. The committee also
reported that numerous delinquencies by insolvent debtors in the conduct of
their affairs, or which had contributed to the losses sustained by their
creditors, were not punishable or even cognizable by courts having
bankruptcy jurisdiction unless or until a debtor who had a receiving order
against him, or became a bankrupt, applied for an order sanctioning a
composition or scheme of arrangement with his creditors, or f