The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-16 00:00:00

THE EX PRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 16, 1846.

means of improving the health of towns and densely pops.
dated districts ; and to ascertain how far the principle of their
recommendations maybe carried out in relation to the bills
propoeed, and whether any and what measures may be re-
commended for adoption by the house thereon." Amongst
the witnesses examined, during eight days' sittings, were
E. Rushton, Esq.. end W. Earle, Esq., niagistrate.a of Liver-
pool ; E. Chadssek, Esq, Secretary to the Po3r-law Com-
miedoners ; T. Greene, Esq., 11. P., Chairman of Commit-
tees ; E. Strutt, ; and J. St. George Burke, Esq.,
and W. Bryden, Esq., Parliamentary Agents. Of the re.
port presented to the house, and ordered to be printed on
the 3rd of August, the following is an abstract.
The committee express the opinion that the local bills re-
ferred to them for the erection of new waterworks, for drain-
ing, paving, and other improvements, had been improved
by a parual adoption of the recommendations of the
commissioners, and that they might have been still further
improved by a fuller adoption of such recommendations,
and by the introduction of other provisions ess •ntial fur
the protection of the public interest. Amongst the recom-
mendations in which the committee concur, are the
following: that authority to construct local works should
not be granted without a previous local examination by
competent public officers ; that ouch works, both as to
their construction and maintenance, should be subject to the
supervision of some public department; that power should
be reserved to repurchase on behalf of the public, and that
all works of this description should, if possible, be carried
out under one local authority. Further, the commissioners
recommend that the sanction of the legislature should be
withheld from schemes which involve undue competition for
the same objects, on the ground that such competition in-
volves needless expenditure, and generally ends in a coali-
tion ; and the committee think that considerable injury to
the public interest has been thus inflicted. It hail been
shown to the committee that defective drainage and other
causes of disease prevailed as intensely in the poorer towns
and villages, which could not resort to remedial measures, as
in more populous districts.
The committee further say they have discovered great de-
fects in the whole system of private legislation at present in
operation. The expenses of obtaiuing the most necessary
private bill are grievously and needlessly heavy, though the
great mass of such bills are essentially public in their nature.
The chief imperfection arises from the want of complete and
trustworthy information. The public not being represented
by any competent person, when the bill is unopposed, the
committee are wholly dependent for information on the
interested representations of the pr meters; and, where it is
opposed, they have, in addition, only the representations of
interested parties, inasmuch as the expenees of opposition
are such se to deter all who are not directly concerned.
Besides this, of the provhions introduced into local balls,
some interfere with the general statute or common law,
some are perplexing in form, and others are so contradictory
and mutually discordant that their carom: meat is impossible.
From the union with IFebusd to the termination of the ses-
sion of 1815, nearly 9,200 local and personal bills passed into
law, and only 5,300 public statutes; and the committee appeal
to members themselves as to the pressure of private business
during fie two Preceding sessions. Influenced by these
considerations, the committee make the follow he; recom-
mendations urekr the heals Public General Acts" and
" Private Bills."

I. PUBLIC GENERAL Acrs.—Under this head the
committee think that, in cases in which only ordinary
powers were sought, means should be afforded to
the parties of carrying theis projects into exe•
cution, under the authority and supervision of one
of the public boards, or departments, without applying
to parliament. That for this purpose public general acts
should be passed on the several subjects of sewage and
water-works, paving, lighting, police and watching, markets,
and every other class of subjects which is not in its nature
personal. That every such public general act should set
forth the conditions on which the required powers may he
obtained, and specify the public board or department under
which they may be conferred. Amongst the provisions in
the general act, it seems expedient to the committee to
require that a memorial should be presented to the proper
board, stating the objects of the promoters, the public utility
of the measure, the local situation and estimated expense of
the work, the means of raising the required funds, and the
periods over which the charges or repayments are to be dis-
tributed ; that similar information should be given to all the
parties interested; that, within a limited tune, a printed
copy of the memorial, with plans, sections, &c., should be
lodged at the office of some local functionary • and that
duplicate copies of the same documents should .be likewise
lodged with the department at the same time;—further that
all parties interested should ho permitted, within a given
time, to lodge in the office of the local functionary written
suggestions, objections, or amendments to the measure pro-
posed. It is recommended that the department shall there-
upon depute one or more qualified inspectors (at the expense
of the promoters) to proceed to the loc.ility, and to examine,
in open court and by personal inspection, both as to compli-
ance with the general Met, and as to the merits. The inspector
having made a a rittcn report to the department, the latter
should then pronounce its deckiion • but in any case where
lrivate property is interfered with, the parties should still be
eft to apply to parliament.
- -

IL ?means Bitte.—The committee recommend that
similar proceedings should be adopted in the case of
all private bills relating to the above mentioned class
of subjects; the report of the inspector or inspectors
in this case to be referred respectively to the Com-
mittee on Standing Orders, and to the Committee on the
Bill. Such local investigation would be of incalculable
advantage, first in diminishing the great expences now in-
curred for the attendance of agents and witnesses in Lon-
don ; secondly, in saving a large portion of the time of mem-
ber, ; and thirdly, in supplying to committees on bills trust-
worthy local infermatiun. With a view to an immediate
saving of time, the committee recommend, that in the
ensuing session, the proof of standing orders, now taken
before the subcommittees, should be taken before an officer
or officers to be appointed by the Speaker, who should com-
mence his or their sittings on the let of January, 1847 ; that
every petition fur a bill should be lodged in the Private Bill
Office, on or before the 24th of Decemba ; that no bill should
be read a first tima until the report of such officer or
officers shall have been presented to the house ;
that all plans should be deposited. and all applications made
to landowners and occupiers, on or before the 30th of Nov. ;
and that a report of compliance should be final, and a report
of non-compliance be referred to the committee on standing
orders as at present. Any doubtful point should also be re-
served for the committee en standing orders.
On account of the evils resulting from the want of uniformity
in legislation, with reference to private bills, the committee
further recommend that acts should be passed on the same prin-
ciple as the Linda and Houses Consolidation Act, and the Con-
solidation Acts relating to companies and railways: such acts to
include the following objects: police and watching; water-
works and sewage ; lighting; improvement of towns, and regu-
lation of buildings and streets and roads ; markets and farts ;
cemeteries; bridges and ferries; harbours, docks, ports,
piers, and quays ; canals, rivers, and navigation. As doubts
are caused by having a multiplicity of acts for the same ob-
ject, in any locality, the committee suggest that when ap-
plication is made for a new bill, for any corporation,
parish, or company invested with powers under an existing
local act or acts, the new bill, together with all existing acts
on the same subject, shall be forwarded to the Board of
Trade, who shall report to the house whether this new bill
should be allowed to proceed ; or whether all the existing
acts should be repealed, and their powers and provisions,
together with new and amended ones, be consolidated under
one general local act.
Under the head " Taxation of Costs," tbe com-
mittee say that the charges of solicitors and
agents for promoting or opposing bill., are very un-
certain and often very extravagant; and they suggest
that a proper taxing officer should be appointed under
the authority of the Speaker, and that a scale of
taxation should be authorised and published by him for the
guidance of all interested parties. They also recommend
that the taxing officer should be required, at the commence-
ment of each session, to present an account of the amount
taxed by him during the preceding session. The committee
conclude by recommending the adoption of preparatory
meatless before the close of the session, in order to protect
the public from the evils proved to exist in the present sys-
tem of conducting private and local legislation. [ln com-
pliance with the latter recommendation, a preparatory act
was

passed accordingly.

OPENING OF THE PORTS.—A meeting of the direc-
tors of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Manufac-
tures was held on Wednesday, when the following memorial
for the opening of the ports was unanimously agreed to and
despatched to Lord John Russell :
To THE REACT HOHnOtHEIX THE Loans COMIHEETONT24 or nER
KAJLETV'E TREASUBT.—The Memorial of the Directors of the Cham-
ber of Corruneree and Manufactures at Manchester, a cwetli e That
your memorialists feel deep apprehensions at the prospects which
threaten this district. Whilst the prices of raw materials have
been advancing, the profits of trade have been dimini-hing, and
hunt branches of our manufactures arc now prosecuted under
Iraq bases. The depressing policy of our own country up to
as kg session of parliament had long tended to fritter away
ear Intercourse with several of our best customers, and the
that interval which has elapsed sine the cilium has not
yet permitted us to resume the connexions which we once
eujoyed;—the price of food at home almost precludes hope that our
people will have the means of purchasing elotleingt—stocks of raanu-
factures are accumulating, and there are strong grounds for fearing
that before winter shall have pissed the demand for labour will be
greatly lessened. Tozer memorialists feel that any reference by them
to year lordships respecting the present and expected Moe:: of fool on
whisk the labourer has to rely until fresh crops be available, is not
neemeary ; they content themselves with stating, shortly, that at the
moment, besides a great enhancement In the prices of meet and
fart moment,
this town, bread has been nlessesd hilly one-third, whilst
eeaiwsal Is selling at twofold, and peados at threefold their usual
and that they look forward with dread to the con-
In r! which the people will leedbebly be fixed in the
=of next year. That deeply for the measures of
prised in thelast session of your memorialists hoped
telt:mph the period of transiaaa, awl an the terms which the
decreed, not way Waged disperidemer bet with a sus-
awilftwe. The espeasedree helms Providence have,
however, iseeeeseed, sod. brie °dew et year memorialists, have
thrown apse the deseramerhelher awful nepowibi Ain. Extreme
sway at dad is hisedelde ; Y Isibaer 111, that weedy will
bowie alma. Prayes see directed to be offered up in our
dawdle es haw ewe evils averted, and yet one of oar laws
suite dal wbsierow New be the price of wheat, the Neale* duty
to he paid epee the Impart of it shall- be 41. per grater : another
law decrees, mos had Arought Into the oramhyhyesstain wo-
mb shall not be wit at all by oar Bawd whilst a third
*deem that iradded shell be mod la ear detiDerte• bat
that which wail sees Led. Yew 'weeklies he year
=to take loseet le renew thew weildwand wed
In fed mew" se the widen of 'oar
sweest They bedew Met is Wagete impending athelelea aselklse
We will be selkese the le admit Into our Ertseese7rand
had esesswy Le ainy sehishetwe, free of du ; le It t• be
bewelablberiedeMi den amp weatryby weds W WIT lep
deneellespolteelleerelrilellheleeihilbrevideeibemeetoprod
acessweltheat releases le the verse width have elredyleaselitt.
ar way bmidter Wag them to as. this extent they beeddYPer
the laseeellele inerfeenee of "wring the ea* a
ass - by theastice.—

b!_ap—proiiiir=ftekl2.

Alga. 'alio , car.
iitewiester, 0at.1846.
A wee of the Town Cotme2l h to be called for memc-
Lords of the Treasury.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Ocr. 14.
FORROP PRATER PORRELIEF PROM SCARCITY.—The Dub-
lin Gazette of Tuesday contains an order by the Lord-Lieute-
nant and Council of Ireland to the Lord; Archhishcps and
Bishopa now iu town to prepare a form of prayer for relief
from the dearth and scarcity now existing in parts of the
United Kingdom, owing to the failure of the crops of the
present year, and instructions for the use of inch form in all
churches and chapels in Ireland, on all occasions on which
divine service shall be performed during the present month.
APPOINTMCNTL—The Dublin Gazette of Tuesday con-
tains notifications of the following appointmenta:—The
Right Tice. Thom ts, Bishop of Team, and Alexander Mac-
donnell, Est., one of the Commissioners of National Edu-
cation in Ireland, to be of the Privy Council in Ireland;
John O'Connell, Esq., to be a deputy-lieutenant of the
County Kerry ; Colonel Sir William Verner, Bart. (re-ap-
pointed), to be a deputy-lieutenant of the County Tyrone;
John Low, Esq., to be a deputy-lieutenant of the County
Limerick; William Moore Miller, Esq., barrister-at-law, to
be resident magistrate for the district of Portadown, County
Armagh ; John L'unsford Ellard, Eget., to be resident magis-
trate for the district of New Quay, County Clare ; William
Knaresborough, Esq., to be resident magistrate for the
district of Nuddleton, County Cork; Charles Arabia,
Etoq , to be resident magistrate for the district of Ballinnobe,
County Mayo.
BOARD OF Woaxe.—Final notice; have been issued by
this board,. of compliance with the preliminaries required by
the provisions for summary proceedings under the Act 9th
Vic. e. 4 (" to amend nets for promoting drainage, &c., and
afford facilities for increased employment for the labouring
classes in works of drainage during the present year "). in
the cases of proposed works in the di-trict of Clonakilty,
Ow enkeagh, and Ratooragh, all in the county of Cork ; and
of compliance with the preliminaries required under the Act
9th Vic. c. 3 (" to encourage the fisheries of Ireland, &c."),
with respect to the proposed pier at Claddagh, in the county
of the town of Galway.
DEPUTATION TO THE LORD LTEUTENANT.—A deputa-
tion, composed of Lords Fiugall and Farnham, Meson. ltoht.
Bourke, Napier, had an interview this afternoon with
his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, on the subject of the
construction of a railway from the boundary of the county of
Cavan, through Kells to Navan, thence by Bective and Kil-
merlin, onward to Dunboyne, to join the Great Western
Railway at Clonsilla, with a branch to Trim and Atliboy.
This is the railway which the gentry and people of Neath at
the late 'Sayan meeting agreed they would prepare, at the
public expense, for the laying down of rile. The Erening
Mail states that the deputation was unsuccessful.
MEETING 01' PARLIAMENT.—LORD CLONIIROCK.—The
following letter from Lord Clonbrock appears in this even-
ing's Mail.

OTO TII FMITOR OF THE ETTNTNO 1477.

" Crounaocz, trer. 13th, 1114ti.—rtir I have just seen in the Fern-
ing Mod of yesterday a recut of a speech of wine at the late meet-
ing of the county of Galway, held at liallinasioe, which I feel
compelled to notice, as it attributes to me an opinion exactly the
reverse of that which I did express, and still hold. In moving a vote
of thanks to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, for taking upon
himself the responsibility altering a late act of krarliarnent, by
giving a power of employing the people in reproductive labours, I
entended that his Excellency had acted most wisely in taking this
step, instead of advising that parliament should be convened, • mea-
sure which, in my opinion, would be ill adapted to the present crisis,
so too much time would necessarily elapse before letolllloo could be
brought to bear on the subject. lon will, therefore, see that ouch
being my views, I Gould not have 'concluded by expressing an opinion
that parliament should be convened at once to consider the suite of
Ireland.'--1 have the honour to be, tar, your most obedient fervent,
CLONYWOCX."