The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-12 00:00:00

CITY CORPORATION COMMISSION.

Qlth respect to the Court of Aldermen, he had tc °buret
t►at, is Mostaganem, many of the powers of that body ought
to be abolished. They had a power over the City parse;
they ►ad a right, for instance, to great pensions. But that
to which he principally objected In the constitution of the
Court of Aldermen wu their right to order prosecutions to
be instituted. They eat atonally with open doors, bat they
claimed a right to include the public, sad they sometimes
oureised that right. He would next pass to the case of the
sheriffs. The °Hos of sheriff, both in the City and in ►tiddle-
se:, was at present merely of a ceremonial character. The
jury panels were returned by the secondaries, who were paid
°doers of the City, and who had no connesion with the
sheriffs. The neat body to which he would refer was the
Court of Common Council. That court was the great
council of the City. They bad extensive legislative powers
They had also entire control over the funds of the corpora-
tion, with the exception of those powtrs placed in the
hands of the Court of Aldermen, to which he had already
adverted. In order to constitute a Court of Common
Council, it was usually thought to be necessary that the
Lord Mayor, or his locum teams, and two aldermen should
be present. But there was some dispute as to the precise
lumber of aldermen who should assist at a Court of Com.

-4
The Commietiosen met again at twelve o'clock
yesterday is the Privy Conseil Chamber, Downing-street,
Mr. Lansaw* in the chair.
Mr. A. Pullin, of the Inner Temple, barrister-at-law,
was the first whims examiued. He said he was the anther
of a treatise on the laws sad usages of the City of London.
He attended compulsorily upon that occasion to give his
evi.lence ; and the reason why he did not voluntarily come
forward was that as he bad been engaged professionally to
cases in which the corporation of the City was concerned he '
was afraid that he might lay himself open to the charge of
disciceing matters which had oaly become known to him in
his professional capacity. Under these circumstances he hoped
the esmosimaionen would allow him to withhold any infor-
mation which he might think that he could not in honour
communicate. In the mune of his professional experience
he had been led to note defects in the present corporate
system of the City. In ancient times the corporation of
London bad stood in a peculiar position towards the
state—a position which it was impossible that it could
occupy at the present day. It had possessed very exten-
sive powers, which appeared to have rendered it in some
measure independent of the crown, and it had °name oc-
casions exercised a voice in the succession to the throne. Its
privileges had been of very remote origin, and had been
confirmed by William the Conqueror and rainy others of
our ancient kings. It had ma ie several loans to thine sove-
reigns. Those loans had been advanced by the citizens not
as private individuals, but in their corporate capacity. He
could not attribute to the corporation of London any direct
political influence since the period of the accession of
Henry VII. ; but it bad no doubt exercised a moral in-
fluence in the state subsequent to that time. The official
dignity of the Lord Mayor was, to a certain extent, pub-
licly recognised in this country. The Lord Mayor, in
ancient times, claimed a right to the office of chief butler
to the sovereign. The Lord Mayor was • member of the
Privy Council. Witness could not say whether he was a
Privy Councillor solely in the case of the demise of the
Crown and the accession of a new sovereign. He believed
the Lord Mayor was not sworn in anew on the occasion of
the decease of a sovereign, and the Lord Mayor was the
only functionary in this country who enjoyed, without any
uew grant from the Crown, any dignity which he might
have previously possessed.

moo Council. The Lord Mayor had tte rigid to dissolve
that court by taking up the mace, as it was called ; and that
right was sometimes exercised amidst scenes of considerable
confusion. As soon as the Lord Mayor took up the mace,
the proceedings of the day were ceeessmily brought to •
close. It appeared to witness that the Court of Common
Council consisted at present of too many members. The Lord
Mayor acted as president of the court, tied decided on points
of order in its meetings. The court had an unlimited power
of charging their property. He would nest refer to the
livery and the common hall. The livery consisted of the
higher class of members of companies rue had the power
of meeting in common hall or general assembly at
the Guildhall for the election of lord mayors, sheriffs, and
chamberlains. The name of the livery had originally been
applied to the whole of the cit;zens of London, and it had
owed its origin to a garb which every free citizen had a
right to wear. Very large sums--in 'nine ewes as much as
1,0001. were paid by parties on becoming liverymen ; and
thus few working goldatnitbs, for instance, had become
members of the livery of the Goldsmith,' Csmpany. In the
less wealthy !enmities, however, the ckarge far joining the
livery was very trifling. There were some com?anies without
any liverymen ; the wateriness and the fellowship porters,
for example, were not admitted to the freedom of the
City. He would next refer to the Court of Common Hall.
That court, which was composed of members of the livery
companies, was very numerously attended, and its proceed-
lags were occasionally very noisily ceulueted. It was
said that many of the voters at the common hall received
money for their votes. It bad always appeared to him
that the Common Council which had the right to regulate
the City assemblies, might, without any very great diffi-
culty, prevent the confusion and the irregularity which

Chairman—Rave you any information t 3 give the com-
mission with regard to the relations of the corporation of
London to the trade of the metropolis ?
Witness said that, by very ancient eharten, the corpora-
tion had had the exclusive control of the trade of London.
In former times, the laws end regulations of the City of
London were less liberal towards foreigners than those of
the other mercantile towns of England. Practically, at
the present day, the only regulations enforced for exclusive
trading in the City were enforced against brokers, publi-
ear.s, and retail dealers. Similar trading privileges had
existed in other corporations of England before the passing
of the Municipal Reform Act. The right of exclusive
dealing could net be conferred by charter, inasmuch as it
was opposed to the common low; and it could only be
enjoyed under an act of parliament, or through immemo-
rial usage. Those trading privileges which had been abo-
lished in other towns by statute, might of course be abo-
lished by the same means in the City of London; and to the
honour of the corporation he should say that it had pro-
posed their abolition in a bill which had been introduced
into parliament the year before last ; bat that proposal
had been defeated through the instrumentality of the
livery companies. The corporation of London was in-
vested by ancient charters and statutes with the regula-
tion of what was called the conservancy of the Thames. That
conservancy of the Thames appeared to have consisted
principally in providing for the removal of weirs that
might impede the navigation of the river, and in regulating
the taking of fish, of which, as it was well known, very few
were at preaeat to be found in the Thames in the vicinity
of London. The rights of the corporation in the port of
London consisted in the power of imposing tolls. In re-
turn for those tolls, they no doubt expended some money on
wharfs and landing places: but he did not know any other
expenditure which they incurred in connexion with the
maintenance of the port of London. By a charter of
James 1., the corporation of the City had received a right ,1
to the outage of corn, fruit, and potatoes, brought within I
the limits of the poet of London. That right included
both banks of the Thames, as the corporation contended;
but that interpretation of the charter had been disputed,
and the point was at present awaiting the decision of
the Court of Chancery. The charter of James I. had
also given the corporation a right to the metage of coal,
They had obtained the right to measure coal, which had at
that time been a new importation; and in order to measure
lit a necessity arose of carrying it to be measured. The
corporation, therefore, without any express grant of the
porterage of corn and coal, but by virtue of their general
right to regulate labour within the City, had created a
fellowship of porters. The meters composed a fellowship
not incorporated but created under certain regulations by
the corporation. The office of a meter was a very valuable
one, and was not open to the public generally. The present
state of the law on the subject of the privileges of the cor-
poration engendered& vast deal of litigation. It would be
easy to see that that result was inevitable, when be stated
that within the limits of the metropolis there were 700 local
acts of parliament, very nearly 100 charters, and nearly as (Prom the General Board of Health, Nov. II.)
many customs which could be called up from their slumbers METROPOLIS.
by any adventurous attorney or solicitor for the purpose of
experimentalising on them. The returns from the D, E, H, K, and T divisions
Chairman—What is the next point on which you wi.h
of the metropolitan police give 18 new cases and 7
to
give any information to the commission ? deaths With reference to a death that took place at 16,
Witness said that the corporation bad very little power Redeross-court, Borough, the return states that this
at the present day beyond the limits of the City. Many of is the 9th fatal case in this court in which there are
the chatters of the trading companies extended for certain 13 houses, occupied by 80 to 90 persons, for the use
distances around London—Senn of them for a distance of of whom there are only two filthy .privies, the stench
seven miles, some fur a distance of 21 miles; and in one from which is very bad, more particularly to persons
case, that of the tobacco-pipe makers, the charter extended living opposite them; the drains are eso very offen-
over the whole of England. But the power of the City sive. At the rear of the premises in the same court
companies beyond the City was at present almost wholly are eight or nine houses inhabited by 70 or 80 hull-
Nominal. Melon's, who have only two filthy privies, the boards
Chairman—ls not the connexion of the corporation of the are covered with soil, the smell from which is bumf-
' City of London with the borough of Southwark one of a ; the drain also smells very offensive, and in wet
peculiar kind? weather the inhabitants areankle deep in their houses.
Witness answered in the affirmative. Edward 111. bad For the use of 20 houses in Redcroes-square there is
first granted to the corporation of the City • jurisdiction an iron tank, about 4 feet high, which is never more
over the whole of Southwark. Previous to the time of than half filled with water. The tap is about 12
Edward 111. Southwark had possessed &distinct charter of inches from the bottom, where there is a quantity of
incorporation. It had afterwards been coastituted into • stagnant filth, the tank not having been cleaned out
City ward, under the name of the Ward of Bridge With- for the last six months. There are two filthy privies
eat, end to that ward the senior alderman for the time in the square for the use of not less than SO mdivi-
Wig bed a right to be appointed without any election. duals. The drain and tank emit very unwholesome
Is believed that the best mode of sow dealing with the smells.
Womb of Southwark would be to give to it a distinct In the house No. 10, Hargreave-square, where a
corporation, such as he thought ought to be given to the death occurred on the Bth instant, tLe inhabitants
other metropolitan boroughs. There would be no difficulty complain of very offensive smells arising from the
in separating Southwark from the City. The corporation grating over the common sewer.
of London had some property in Southwark ; but that pro- A woman was found lying ill of cholera in a corn-
perty would of course be respected, lithe same way as any mon lodging-house in Holloway-court, Whitechapel.
private property. She was immediately remored to the workhouse,
Chairman—Have you an information to communicate to where she died.
the commissioners with respect to the mostitation of the Two new cases and one death are reported as hav-
corporation of London ? ing occurred in the Millbank Prison from the sth to
Witness said, that the corporation of the City of London the 9th instant
differed from every other is the kingdom, inasmuch as Mr. Spaull, the medical parochial officer of the
district of Hammersmith, in the Kensington Union,
there was no charter and no act of parliament which defined
its constitution. In ancient times it had been known under gives the following account of six fatal cases of
cholera which have occurred in lib district. He was
variousdesig. aliens. William the Conqueror bad addressed
called to the first case at No. 2, Brook-green-place.
the incorporated citizens as the " Court Reeves and Bur-
The patient, a deformed woman, a render of fruit,
gates" of London ; in a charter of John they were called
the " Batons "of the City of London ; buttbe meaning or was attacked with the disease in its most virulent
origin of that epithet was at present involved in obscurity. form, and died in 22 hours, having had neglected
dimly: ea of Dome standing. The second case was
The title of the Mayor of London was at least as old as the
time of King John. The name under which the corporation that of a girl aged 20, who had been dancing almost
all night at a public-house, and afterwards attended
was known at the present day was—the mayor, commonalty,
the
and eitizeu of London. In hie opinion the companies
wake on the body of the woman who first died :
formed an integral portion of the corporation of Loodoa, she was attacked at six in the morning, and died at
in
(Witness here entered at some length into the history of a three
dispute between the court of an comet' and the attacked the afternoon. The mother of this girl was
two days afterwards, and died in eight
'er's
companies, which arose out of the course pursued in the
hours, she having got drunk at her own daugh
were -
a t
year 183-i by the court, which, by a regulation of its own,
funeral. Two brothers in the same place
had admitted persons to be citizens who were not free of tacked within a day ot each other, and both perished. The sixth eime was that of a child, who was attacked
any company.) with diarrheas, which quickly passed into cholera, and
Chairman—Will you now proceed to any statement you proved fatal in 13 hours.
may have to make with respect to the order and (poem- Brook-green-place, where these deaths occurred, is
meat of the corporation ? a densely crowded locality, inhabited by Irish, and
Witness said that he would first refer under that head to has very imperfect drainage; it is ill ventilated, and
the office of Lord Mayor. The custom at present was to badly supplied with water, which is sometimes
elect as Lord Mayor the senior alderman who had not almost black, and of a bad smell. It is obtained
before Oiled that office. There had been a few departures from a pump common to most of the houses ; at
from that practice; but teen was no instance on record present it is clear, and free from odour. The surface
of the elevation to that dignity of any person who was not an of the place was muddy. and filthy from ashes, soil,
alderman. He could not undertake positively to say whether vegetable matter, Sc., being thrown from the houses.
the livery might elect as Lord Mayor • gentleman who had This nuisance was certified to by the medical officer.
never been au alderman. That was a point which might Eventually the soil has been carted away, and the
be open to doubt; but it was clear that a Lord Mayor houses limewashed, so that at present they present
should be a citisea of London. It had been arranged by quite a different aspect.
au order of the Common Council that a person eligible to Drspee.—Nov. 9. Deaths—Cholera, 14.
the office of Lord Mayor should previously have been a GORLESTON (Scriotti).—Nov. 7to 10. Deaths—
sheriff. He should be glad to see the time when any Cholera, 5.
I eminent citizen of London who might have taken out his DARTFORD.—Nov. 9. Deaths—Cholera, 3.
'freedom should be eligible to the office of Lord Mayor. Henwicii.—Nov. 9. Deaths—Cholera, '2.