730 



RHODE ISLAND. 



respective claims, except as is provided in the third 

 section 2 er ^ h ' enever anv debtor, being insolvent, 

 shall do any act, or make any conveyance, whereby 

 anv one of his creditors shall obtain a preference 

 over any other of his creditors, or knowingly omit to 

 do anv'act which he might lawfully do to prevent 

 one of his creditors from obtaining a preference over 

 his other creditors, contrary to the intent of this act, 

 anv three or more of his creditors, holding not less 

 than one third of the debts in amount of such debtor, 

 may file a petition in equity, either in term time or in 

 vacation, in the Supreme Court in the county where 

 such debtor resides, but which may be heard in any 

 county ; and after notice to the debtor arid to the 

 creditors sought to be preferred, of the time and 

 place of hearing thereon, the Court, sitting in bane, 

 bhall proceed summarily to hear the parties, and if it 

 shall appear to the Court that such debtor is insol- 

 vent, and has been giving or is about to give a pref- 

 erence to any of his creditors over others of such 

 creditors, the Court shall appoint, from the nomina- 

 tions by the creditors, a receiver, who shall take 

 possession of all the property, evidences of prop- 

 erty, books, papers, debts, choses in action, and 

 estate of every kind of the debtor not exempted by 

 law from attachment, including property attached or 

 levied upon, in the manner and subject to the limita- 

 tion hereinbefore provided, and all property con- 

 veyed in violation of the provisions of this act, and 

 convert the same to money, and marshal and dis- 

 tribute the same among the several creditors of the 

 insolvent, whether their claims are due or to become 

 due, who shall come in and prove their respective 

 claims within such time and in such manner as the 

 Court shall direct; and the Court shall order such 

 debtor to file a schedule of his debts and to whom 

 due, and of his property, and to do whatever may be 

 necessary and proper to carry this act into effect ; 

 and all proceedings therein or thereunder shall be in 

 accordance with the course of equity, and^such as 

 the Court shall by general rule or by special order 

 prescribe. 



SEC. 3. No assignment hereafter made for the 

 benefit of creditors shall give to any one creditor any 

 preference over the claims of any other creditor, ex- 

 cept the creditor be the United States or the State 

 of Rhode Island, or for the wages of labor performed 

 within six months previous to such assignment, not 

 exceeding one hundred dollars to any one person. 



SEC. 4. Conveyances and payments made and se- 

 curities given by an insolvent debtor or by a debtor 

 in contemplation of insolvency, within sixty days 

 of the commencement of proceedings against such 

 debtor under this act, with the view of giving a pref 

 erence to any creditor upon a preexisting debt, or to 

 any person under liability for such debtor over an- 

 other creditor, shall be void as to all creditors re- 

 ceiving the same who shall have reasonable cause to 

 believe that such debtor was insolvent at the time 

 of such preference. 



SEO. 5. The Court may, at any time during the 

 pendency of any petition filed under the second sec- 

 tion of this act, allow new parties to come in and be 

 joined in such petition. 



SEC. fi. This act shall not apply to any action or 

 proceeding which shall have been commenced be- 

 fore the passage hereof. 



SEC. 7. Costs in cases upon which attachments or 

 levies are made, which are dissolved under the pro- 

 visions of this act, shall be preferred and be first 

 paid by the receiver to be appointed hereunder. 



SEO. 8. All actions and proceedings to be com- 

 menced under the provisions of this act may be com- 

 menced and prosecuted in the name of the receiver 

 appointed ln'reunder. 



8 KG. 9. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent here- 

 with are hereby repealed. 



SEC. 10. This act shall take effect from and after 

 its passage. 



An amendment was also made to the " liquor 

 law," giving local option on the question ot 

 license to the citizens of Providence. The fol- 

 lowing amendment to the Constitution was 

 referred to a joint committee on the subject 

 of liquor legislation, with instructions to re- 

 port their judgment thereon at the May ses- 

 sion : 



ARTICLE V. SECTION 1. The sale of intoxicating 

 liquors, unless the same shall be of foreign produc- 

 tion and imported under the laws of the United 

 States, and contained in the original packages in 

 which the same were imported, and in quantities not 

 less than the laws of the United States prescribe, 

 shall not be permitted within the limits of this State, 

 save for the purpose of exportation, except in such 

 of the towns and cities therein as shall vote as here- 

 inafter provided to license such sale at a special 

 elective meeting that may be called, warned, and 

 held in every town and city in this State, as often as 

 once in each year, but not oftener, for the sole pur- 

 pose of voting upon the question of whether or not 

 such town or city will license such sale ; and no 

 licenses to sell intoxicating liquors as a beverage 

 shall hereafter be granted by any town or city with- 

 in this State, unless three fifths of the electors of 

 such town or city voting at such special elective 

 meeting shall have consented to and approved the 

 granting of such licenses. 



SEC. 2. No person shall be allowed to vote at any 

 special elective meeting that may be called, warned, 

 and held under the provisions of this amendment to 

 the Constitution unless he shall be, at the time of the 

 holding of such meeting, qualified to vote upon any 

 proposition to impose a tax in the town or city 

 where he shall offer to vote. 



SEC. 3. The General Assembly of this State shall 

 have power to enforce the provisions of this article 

 by appropriate legislation. 



The regular session of the Legislature began 

 at Newport on the 28th of May. Various re- 

 ports and propositions were made, but the 

 more important ones went over for considera- 

 tion at the adjourned session in January, 1879. 



The election of members of Congress took 

 place on the 5th of November. The "Na- 

 tional Greenback " party held a State Conven- 

 tion in Providence on the 14th of October, 

 and adopted the following declaration of prin- 

 ciples : 



The necessity for the existence of our organization 

 is in our duty to save ourselves and rescue our fel- 

 low-citizens from the idleness, bankruptcy, ruin, 

 crime, and despondency, leading to self-destruction, 

 brought upon us by the incompetence and corrup- 

 tion of the old parties. 



Resolved, That this Convention declares its con- 

 fidence in and adhesion to the National Greenback 

 party. 



Resolved, That as members of the National Green- 

 back-Labor party, we of .Rhode Island heartily unite 

 with our brethren and co-workers in other States in 

 demanding 



1. The immediate repeal of the resumption act. 



2. The retirement of all existing paper money of 

 every kind whatsoever, now authorized in the United 

 States, and the substitution therefor of a better cur- 

 rency, in the form of absolute paper money, issued 

 polely and directly by the Government of the United 

 States, and that the same shall be a full legal tender 

 for all debts and dues, and receivable as such by 

 governments and people everywhere within the na- 

 tional jurisdiction, and that the circulation of any 

 other paper money be forbidden. 



3. The calling in and payment, without unneces- 



