MONEY. 



balance shews the profit or loss for the period. 

 Partner? Accounts. On the credit side is placed 

 ic partner's capital as per last account, with five 

 per cent, interest. On the debtor, are placed his 

 drawings for the year ; on the debtor or creditor 

 side, his share of profit or of loss. The balance 

 shews the net capital of the partner at the date of 

 ic account. Each partner's capital may then be 

 carried to the balance sheet, and being added, 

 they must agree with the figures of the balance 

 sheet representing the net capital of the concern. 

 A check is thus got on the accuracy of the whole 

 figures. 



Bill of Parcels. An account or list of items of 

 goods, given to their purchaser by the seller, or 

 delivered along with the goods at the purchaser's 

 house. 



Invoice. A bill or account of goods, which is 

 forwarded separately, announcing the date of their 

 despatch, and the particular conveyance by which 

 they are sent. 



Bill of Lading. A formal acknowledgment or 

 receipt given by sailing-masters for goods put 

 on board their vessels, including a promise to 

 deliver them safely, as marked and addressed, 

 to their designed destination ; always, however, 

 excepting loss or injury by the act of God, the 

 king s enemies, fire, or the dangers or" accidents of 

 the sea. 



A Manifest is a document containing a specific 

 description of a ship, her cargo, and passengers. 

 It is signed by the master at the place of 

 lading. 



Customs, Excise. The duties or taxes imposed 

 upon goods entering the country are, in this 

 country, called customs; and those imposed upon 

 goods at the period of their manufacture in the 

 country are called excise duties. Both form a 

 prime element in the national revenue, and are 

 levied by a board, having an extensive ramifica- 

 tion of subordinate functionaries, for the imposi- 

 tion and collection of the duties. 



Tariff, or tarif, is the term applied to a table of 

 the articles subject to custom-house and excise 

 duties, with their respective rates. 



Insolvency, Bankruptcy. When a person is 

 not in circumstances to pay his debts in full, he 

 is insolvent, which is nearly equivalent to being 

 bankrupt : the term bankrupt, however, is more 

 commonly applied to one who is legally announced 

 or gazetted as being insolvent. In 1854, an 

 attempt was made by Lord Brougham to assimi- 

 late the Scotch bankruptcy law to that of England ; 

 but the Scotch mercantile community objected to 

 this, as they held the English system to be 

 cumbrous and expensive. It was at the same 

 time admitted that the Scotch law, while 

 generally theoretically good, was practically 

 inefficient, as its provisions were largely ignored. 

 One result of the controversy was the Scotch 

 Bankruptcy Amendment Act of 1856, which, 

 while containing the main provisions of the 

 previous act, rendered them effective by the 

 appointment of an 'Accountant in Bankruptcy,' an 

 officer whose business it is to see that trustees in 

 bankruptcy make annual returns, in prescribed 

 form, shewing the funds of the estate realised 

 and outstanding, the dividend paid, the expenses 

 incurred, and the position of the estate generally ; 

 of all which the Accountant must keep a register, 

 open to all concerned. He is further bound to 



take cognisance of the conduct of trustees, com- 

 missioners, and bankrupts, and in case of miscon- 

 duct, to report to the court or Lord Advocate, 

 who have power to censure, remove from office, 

 or .to prosecute criminally. Another result was 

 the assimilation of the English to the Scotch 

 law, by the English Bankruptcy Act in 1869, 

 now repealed, but in part re-enacted by the 

 Act of 1883. In England now, as in Scotland 

 heretofore, the creditors appoint their own trustee, 

 who may or may not be a creditor. Both acts 

 contain clauses for winding-up by composition or 

 deed of arrangement, if a majority in number and 

 three-fourths in value of the creditors consent ; 

 but in both countries this is after the public 

 examination of the bankrupt ; and in England the 

 composition must be approved of as reasonable 

 by the court, and in Scotland the deed of arrange- 

 ment must be so approved. The committee of 

 inspection in England discharges the duties of the 

 commissioners in Scotland, while the supervision 

 of the Accountant in Scotland is exercised partly 

 by official receivers (who act with the trustee and 

 report on his conduct), and partly by the Board 

 of Trade, who appoint these receivers as per- 

 manent officers, and audit their accounts, and 

 discharge them, or refuse a discharge. In Eng- 

 land, the Lord Chancellor and the Board of Trade, 

 and in Scotland the Court of Session, may from 

 time to time make rules for the effectual working 

 of the act. The English rule differs from the 

 Scotch in requiring the consent of the Committee 

 of Inspection to the appointment of a solicitor by 

 the trustee. A noteworthy improvement by the 

 Scotch 1856 Act was making the judgment of the 

 sheriff final in competitions for the office of trustee. 

 Amendments on the 1856 Act were passed in 1857 

 and 1860, the latter giving power to the Scotch 

 courts to recall a sequestration till three months 

 after its date. Another act defined the preference 

 given in bankruptcy to claims for wages and 

 salary ; and the theory and practice of bankruptcy 

 were modified by the legislation of 1880 and 1881, 

 abolishing imprisonment and entitling creditors to 

 institute processes of cessio bonomm. The great 

 feature of the English Act of 1883 is the centralised 

 administrative power of the Board of Trade, 

 which is carried so far that (except in very special 

 cases) trustees all over the country must pay 

 their valuation into an account kept by the Board 

 at the Bank of England. The act also contains 

 new provisions with respect to small bankruptcies 

 (estates under ^300), and the estates of deceased 

 insolvents. 



MONEY. 



Origin and Nature of Money. -In a rude state 

 of society, exchanges are made by bartering one 

 article for another, according to some kind of 

 understood value. ' But when the division of 

 labour first began to take place,' says Smith, 

 ' this power of exchanging must frequently have 

 been very much clogged and embarrassed in its 

 operations. One man, we shall suppose, has 

 more of a certain commodity than he himself has 

 occasion for, while another has less. The former, 

 consequently, would be glad to dispose of, and 

 the latter to purchase, a part of this superfluity. 

 But if this latter should chance to have nothing 



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