The Express.
London, England, 1849-02-23 00:00:00

,

jiry 'atm war „woos
Assassin seltichtleostid.etnent'ennisnrebie betifit
esuntrvernment
were going
•( Rpm, lisdr.) Maks said whin messometet
te introdesi, he hoped the hops,
be content with whet he had said, and that they 'wtratd
sanction a resolution of this kind, width pointed to
nothing practical, but Purely raised undefined hopes, thus
doing that of which his hon. Mind complained,—kesping the
cesantry in a state of anxiety, NM exciting expectations which
sight not be fulfilled. (Hear. bear.)
After a few words from Mr. O'FrAtizarr, . .

Mr. J. O'CONNELL said he thought that as his ho-
nourable friend had but lisle chance of carrying his
motion, he would recommend him to withdraw it, but on
the distinct undentandieg that ministers were pledged to
ietroduce a bill which would go to the root et the evil,
sufficiently early to insure its being carried in the present
melon.

Lord BERNARD said he so far agreed with the hon. mem-
ber for Limerick as to recommend that the motion should be
withdrawn, believing ea be did that if carried it would excite
false hopes and lead to no useful result. To this he must
add, that any bill on this subject, founded on the principle
of confiscation, would have his most determined opposition.
The question of tenant-right, as usually treated at public
meetings in Ireland, was a mere political question, and
the wisdom of parliament would be best shown by leaving the
matter alone. It was with regret that he bad beard the hon.
baronet (Sir W. Somerville) announce that he had a bin to
introduce which was framed on the suggestions of the com-
mittee of last session. Her Majesty's government should
propose mmenres on their own responsibility, and not dele-
gate their duties to a few selected members of that house. On
the subject of arterial drainage, he would observe that if the
government would give a guarantee %bat they would lend
moaey for tbot purpose, on undoubted security, many of
the weeks which had been discontinued would instantly
recommence. The fisheries of Ireland might be made very
productive if the government, by encouraging railway
communication, would enable the people employed in them
to send fish cheaply to market. In connexion with that
subject he would observe that the 40,0001. which had been
designed for the improvement of the piers and harbours was I
not yet expended. He hoped the noble lord at the head erl
the government would state what course he meant to pro-
pose with regard to the formation of poor law unions in
Ireland. whether be intended, in accordance with the report
of the boundary commission, to form new unions, leaving
the temporary house. to be taken in those unions, or whether
he designed that auxiliary houses shou'd be taken in the pre-
sent unions. He would suggest to government the importance
of affording agricultural instruction before the ensuing spring.
The agricultural inPtructo.s sent out by Lord Clarendon
last year had done the greatest possible goad, though no-
thing but the repeated failure of the potato crop coal I have
enabled them to overcome the prejudices of the farmers.
One of the greatest evils connected with the present poor-law
system in Ireland was the accumulation of so many children
in the workhouses. By sending a number of these young
persons to the colonies, the government would be laying a
foundation for their future happiness, and at the same
time relieving the industrious farmer of a heavy burden.

Mr. REYNOLDS supported the motion; and, after
speeches from Mr. Mansell, Mr. Fox, and a repay from Mr.
Sharman Crawford, the hon. member withdrew his motion.
DUCHIES OF CORNWALL AND LANCASTER.
Mr. TRELAWNY moved for

A select committee to inquire to what extent thepublic are entitled
to claim an laterest, present or prospective. In the management of the
ISuchrs of Cornwall sad Lancaster, respecting which returns are an.
mildly presented to the home. and whether there is not reason to
hope, from those returns, as well is other circumstances, that an
improvement in the management of those estates in particular, by the
suppression of antiquated and superfluous offices, and the diminution
of the salaries of
of the two duchies.

His own wish really was to realise to the Duke of Cornwall
an increase or saving of revenue to the amount of at leant
20,000/. per annum ; end the country at large, he conceived,
was interested in such an object, seeing that whereas at no
distant period a I reposition might be submitted to podia.
ment touehing the maintenance to be provided.; for the eldest
son of the sovereign, such an amount weuld represent no
inconsiderable a proportion of the allowance that parliament
might accord to him. For his own part, he was ready to
prove, in the event of the noble lord's granting such a com-
mittee as he wanted, such a series of cases of intolerable
vexation and oppression arising out of the system on which
the revenues of these duchies were at prt sent administered,
and of their general management, se would interest every
hon. member who now heard him. It was a feet well
known to all gentlemen who were conversant with the
tenure of land, and the state of property, in
the Duchy of Cornwall, that over any estate
in that duchy, which had paid but two pennies
in the nature of a quit rent or acknowledgment ot any kind.
300 or 400 or even 600 years ago, the duchy had often enforced
its power of dispossessing the present holder. It was true
that by a bill paned not many sessions since, this term was
restrained within 12.5 years; but even that limitation only
showed the arbitrary and oppressive character of the right
thus exercised. lie held in his hand a variety of returns of
the several items of the revenue end expenditure of both the
duchies for the years 1837 and 1848. Without troubling the
house by recapitulating them, he would recur only to a few
(which the hon. member accordingly read from the printed
parliamentary paper) from whence it appeared that againot
an aggregate revenue of 60,3961., the aggregate of expendi-
ture was 20,8171., including the salaries of a receiver-general,
an auditor, a chancellor, bailiffs, clerks, counsel, an ant rney-
general, &c. It was in these useless and highly paid offices
that the revenues were dissipated. 40,7161. were raised in
one year in the Duchy of Lancaster; but a vast
amount of the sum in like manner was distributed among
such a variety of officials and law officen with sounding names
and chief officers and other bearers, that the affair appeared
to him absolutely childish altogether. It was like playing
at a king and his ministers. The tennis for 1847 showed
some little improvement on those of 1830-7. There was
certainly an improved management and an economised ex-
penditure exhibited in them as compared with their prede-
cessors. But his object was to submit the whole of these
accounts to a committee of the house, in whose heads a
judicious and profitable management of these properties
could not fail to be devised. (Hear, hear.) He was satis-
fied that at a time when the exigencies of the public service
were forcing the adoption of retrenchment and economy in
every department—when Parliament had so recently induced
the gevernment to reform, and reduce the navy and other
estimates—it would be deemed by bon. members highly
inexpedient that the estates of the Prince, who was Duke of
Cornwall and Lancaster, and heir to the throne, should be
managed in the wasteful and unproductive manner he had
more particularly pointed out upon a former cm
casion. (Hear.) He knew it might be urged as
an objection to his motion by the numben of her I
Majesty's government that the howe bad no right to invest!.
gate these accounts at all—that the lands and estates on
which the revenues in question were raised were the private
property of the Duke ot Cornwall. His reply to that objec-
tion would be a very simple one. If (he would ay) you
deny the right of pediment to exercise any supervision
over, or institute any inquiry Into these matters, on what prin.
eiple do you annually publish those accounts ? The fact of
publication supposed as well as invited such inquiry. Every
hoe. gentleman then present must know, moreover, how
difficult, not to say impossible, it was, to manage himself his
own estate to any advantage or profit. On what principle
eould it be contended that the estate of the Duke of Cornwall
or the Duke of Lancaster was exempted from a similar liabi-
lity when left to such an irresponsible sort of management as
that by which it was now administered ? The hon. gentle-
man having read a passage from a tract by Mr. Burke,
written 80 years ago, contended, on that authority, that any
trusts of a public or official nature exercised out of the con-
trol and supervision of parliament, was calculated only to
expose to whom they were delegated to unnecessary tempts-
tion, and argued that the principle was clearly applicable to
the present case. He concluded by moving the appointment
of a committee in the terms above stated.
The motion having been seconded, and put from the
chair,—
Lord J. RUSSELL said that when, on a former day, he bad
addressed to the hones those considerations aeon which he was
of opinfin that the motion of the hon. member (Mr. Tee-
-1 lawny) was one that ought not be complied with, be had
not stated with sufficient clearness, he feared, the principal
reasons which had impressed him with that conviction. He
meant to have then stated that, on the last settlement of
the civil list, it was competent to the crown to have seinen-
dered, upon any arrangement that might have been deemed
satisfactory, the revenues of one of these duchies. But par-
liament, at that time, did not think fit to adopt such
a prepcsition • and he had no doubt that this
might bane been so with regard to the duchy of
Lancaster ; but the duchy of Cornwall was not an
analogous cese—(hear, hear)—for the lands of that duchy
became the private property of the Prince of Wales at the
moment of his birth—(hear, beer)—it was not competent,
therefore, to the crown to make any arrangement that would
work any defessance of this, the prince's own private rights.
Now, in point of fact, le was prepared to say that whatever
imputation of defective management might formerly have
applied to the administration of the revenues of both these
duchies, Lancaster and Cornwall, that management had of
late years very considerably improved, and was at the pre-
sent moment, he believed, on the whole, satisfactory :
whilst those occasional acts of vexation or injustice which
were alleged to have been committed under the system pur-
sued in former years had now ceased to exist. When the
hon. gentleman brought forward a similar proposition, on a
former occasion, he did not clearly state what the precise ob-
ject was that he then contemplated ; and certainly that ob-
ject had been on the pretreat occasion not less vaguely ex-
At one time the hon. gentleman seemed to state
rir object to be this: namely, to show that the ma-
nagement of these revenues might be very mate-
rially improved, and their amount incensed, under
a different system of administration • but at another
his object appeared rather to obtain a committee that should
recommend the appropriation of these revenues of the duchies
to the public service. And now he came forward to show
that se large a sum might be raved out of a mere economical
managemnit of these revenues as would save the country a
considerable portion of the charge which it might expect at
a future period to be called upon to meet for the future glow-
ante to the Prince of Wales. (Hear, hear.) Butts (Len
J. Russell) must submit that, without the direct cement of
the crown, these revenues *mad not be at all interfered with;
and that that house would never sanction an attempt at sash
interference in the absence of that sanction. The how gen-
tleman had alleged that a great number of ems
of extreme hardship had occurred by reason of
the defective measgement of these revenues, and
that therefore the committee of investigation for
which he had moved ought to be granted to him. It
would, however, be surely very unjust, on general charges
of this nature, to refuse to the crown the right of ethe
seeing its own estates, or to take from the Duke of
Cornwall the rats authority over his. And, 'again, if the
house were not prepared to go the whole length of the hem.
gentleman's peoposal, which would extend, in fact, to tales
away either the property or the control of it from its owner,

~_.--,.

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ifebta late i isuasse •
to the question bow far the exptaessef em •
mnaageommillllititirthis property or the alteration of they •
/reams might be economised. The safer plan.
•wOnld be not to grant the committee. The noble lord
he believed, as to the annual piWenetion pith's. agars
which the hen. gentleman had attempted to rum Oa ergo,
mat in favour of his motion, that the real object with whisk
they hod been ordered by a former government was, that
their periodical production might operate as a very whoa,
check on the management in question. That wattle nag,
statding on which this plan of publication was first adopted,
but it was never meant to convey that tort of right of
tool ever these revenues wh ch the hon. gene
eman
has assumed in his speech. By a somewhat odd
prow as of reasoning, the hon. gentleman hi.d lare
from some speculative ragout of Mr. Burke, iantr
on the mischief, that might aria under the einem 04
which the Stroistr lands' were then managed, that the same
abuses must be in existence now, in 1849. (Hear, hem)
In poise of feet, they did not now exist. As to some of
those expenses on which the hon. gentleman had cons
merited as being excessive, he (Lard J. Russell) could easily
believe that the salaries to stewards, and catheters, easily
bailiffs in charge of crown lands, were somewhat more
high than were usually given by private oweera of tune
properties. (Hear, hear.) He 'puke, advhedly, of small
properties ; for within his own personal knowl dgr, oak ar.
d.ed, by certain of his own family connexions, very mark
barker sums were paid. (Several members, " Much limo)
Yes, he telieved that by many of the duchies even Taiga
salaries were raid to land stewards and others than bytes
Duke of Bedford, (or example, and yet he knew, is kin
case, that a gentleman was paid regularly a year
for little more than the advice he gave on all leases sod
other questions connected with the general arrangement of
his landed property. (Hear, hear.) It was but natural
that in the ease of the crown the same sort of
services should be somewhat more distinguished. As foe
these two duchies, the whole property of them is vested fa
the crown. Without the content of the crown it could not
be submitted to the interposition of that house,; and
assuredly the crown would not be a party to any arranges
menu that could have the effect of demagiow tire interests
and the rights of the Duke of Cornwall. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. P. CAREW felt greatly obliged to !Pr ton. friend
(Mr. Trelawney) for having brought forward this very in,
portant subject. There was no person convert:4 with Cote.
wall who was not aware of the injurious opgration which
the present system of managing these duchies r racised sa
the rights of tenants and landlords. He ha l been much
astonished to hear the allusion made by the noble lard
to his hon. relative. The two cases we c not at all
analogous. The Duke of Bedford was not like), to eats
before that house and b^g it to make good the deficiencies el
his own income ; and, it he were to do so, tie huuse would
t,ll him to se onimise his means, by reducing such allrw-
, minces as I.o[ol. here,_ 3,0001. there, and 6,1001. in another
quar:er. Now, the Duke of Cornwall was very likely, sa
tho other band, to be before that house very soon with tome
; such application—(cries of Oh," and taught, a) ; and hence
it was the interest of parliament to see that his revenues were
, economically administered. (Hear, hear.)
• Mr. HUME should support the propailion for a con-
' mittoe.

Mr. M. GIBBON thought that the puhli had a clay
right to inquire practically into the state of these reviews.
The revenues bad been granted to the crown by sett:4par.
Bement, and were subject to parliamentary investigatios.
Mr. RICARDO raid that without going into the kande'
part of the question, he should certainly support the props.
sition for an inquiry into the management of there duchter,
on the ground a f the grievous tyranny and oppression prac•
tised in their name. Within Ms own knowledge, the in.
habitants of • whole suburb of Stoke were suHerine hem
lime from the conduct of the officials of the duct y 6f Lanesi.
ter, who were urdermining and had actually destroyed
many houses there under the pretence of exercising the
mining rights attached to the duchy.

Sir a. GREY said that as to the case of the inhabitants
of Stoke, they were suffering no more injury at the hands of
the duchy fficiels than they weuld have guff, red at the
Lands of an individual possessing the same undoubted menu
rights. Those rights were exercised under the direct sues
tion of the law of the land. If the law operated oppressively
upon these parties let them seek a modification of the law;
but let them not alike out a special case against the duchy.
The Earl of LINCOLN said that if the circurnetance of
estates being held under the power of an act of ;orgasm
was to be held as giving the public a right to int. Mere with
the management of such domains. Strathfieldres a and Blue
beim must be deemed equally open to pubic inter exam
with the duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. There wen
estates without end in the country which possessed royal
privileges, but was that any reason for subjecting their so
nagement to the examination of • ce mmittee of that home
lie would, however, deal with the two duchies separately,
notwithstanding the hon. member had bound them together
in his motion. The first half of the hon. member's
motion was that "a select committee be appointed
to inquire to what extent the public are entitled to
claim an interest, present or prospective, in the manage-
ment of the duchy of Cornwall." lie would, therefore, first
proceed to show, as Cornwall was the first in order on the
motion, that the present interest of the public in that duchy
was nil, and the prospective interest so little as not to and
grounds for any expectation on that score. The duchy vu
of very ancient origin. It was granted by Edward 111. to the
Black Prince, end the set of parliament by which this pant
was conferred ran somewhat in the following form, " That
the said duchy be hereafter vested in the Duke of Cornwall
at his birth," the eldest son of the king being Duke of Cone
wall from the moment of his birth, " and that it continue is
be so vested in the Duke of Cornwall until his (leads or as
cession to the throne • and on his accession to the throne
the duchy becomes vested in his eon if he have one, but if he
have no son then the duchy to remain vested in the throne
for the benefit of any Bon that may be born to the sovereign."
He (the Earl of Lincoln) believed the hon. gentlemen would
miens he bad correctly stated the substance of the act ofpar-
liament. It would, therefore, be at once obvious that the
present interest of the public in the Duchy of Cornwall war,
as he had stated, nil. The prospective interest was he
trusted, a very. remote one, namely, that when his ;opt
highness the Prince of Wales ascended the throne, it would
be competent for him, in ease he had no son, to include the
revenues of the duchy of Cornwall in the arrangement
made for the civil list. But that arrangement would only
hold good until a Prince of Wales wan born, and then, as
Duke of Cornwall, that prince would succeed to his inherit-
ance ; so that,as he had said before, the public interest in the
duchy of Cornwall was nil, and the prospective interest so little
as not to be capable of being valued. Besides, supposing suck
an arrangement, u he had supposed, was come to by which
the revenues of the duchy were merged in the grant for the
civil list which was made at the commencement of every
reign, and a son should be subsequently born by whom the
duchy income would at once be claimed as a birthright, in
that cue the public would be saddled with the civil hat,
whilst part of the consideration for it would be withdraws.
But the returns annually furnished to parliament of the
management of the revenues of the duchy of Cornwall
formed one of the grounds on which the hon. member
founded his motion. lie did not regret that these returns
were annually furnished, for they could only show how well
the property was administered ; but they were originally
to be sent in by Lord Monteagle, when be was Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, because during that time the public
had a remote interest in the revenues of the duchy. At the
same time, he was ready to admit there had been some mil'
management lathe duchy property. The managers of that
property had not in former times always consulted the
interests of those whose rights they were bound to protect
(Hear.) But why had not the bon. member given the house
some instances of the mismanagement of which he com-
plained
Mr. TRELAWNY.—I will do so in another week.
Earl of LINCOLN.—If the hon. member had aid so be.
fore, he (Lord Lincoln) would have reserved his preset
speech until those samples of mismangement had bun
brought under the notice of the house. But the hon. mem•
her did complain of general mismanagement. He had ewe
plained that the Duchy of Cornwall estates were managed'
an arbitrary and tyrannical way. Bat he had been refuted
in his statements by the right boa, baronet, the Home
Secretary. For his own part he had no knowledge
of any particular cases of hardship, and as for as
charge of general mismanagement he must deny ii
altogether. Now, he must remind the house that the
Duchy of Cornwall was not to be looked at se
was managed in the time of Mr. Burke. What they had
to deal with was the management of its revenues by the
council which governed the affeks of the duchy. At the
period when the present council was formed there certsial/
was a gross mismanagement of the property of the duchy. It
had been managed so as to extract as much as possible for
the benefit of the life tonsil, without regard to the interfere
of the future successor to the dukedom. Lord Duacennolle
when at the head of the Woods and Forests, pat an end to
the system of leasing for terms of lives, present and future.
The system of taking fines for leases for lone terms of pen
was abolished by Lord Duncannon. These changes Vero"
advantageous to the saes ottho duchy, as to be likely to
conduce to the circumstance of the Prince of Wales bong'
in independent circumstances. The hon. member hod Steed
that he could show in what manner the resenues of the
duchy of Cornwall could be increased by no leas an 'meant
than 60,0001.
Mr. TRELAWNY.—I said both the duchies of Lit'
cuter and Cornwall.
The Earl of LINCOLN wished the hon. gentleman wall
reserve his interruptions and explanations until the ant
week. (A laugh.) But all he would at present say `NA
that if the hon. member would only communicate to his
the method by which he would be able to incense the
revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall by 60,0001., he (Kul',
Lincoln) would, as one of the council of that dual, UAW
with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction to the hon. Inc*
her, and wculd very probably enable him to dispel"
eft
tirely with the trouble of moving for any committee rays:
entject. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He was, hose j
ready! to admit that hardships had been inflicted on lose el
the duchy tenants, but these were rendered as light a's f'ff
sible, and they were matters in which the public had n ea
case. The remaining part of the hon. gentian!!
referred to the salaries paid to the officers et the oaf!
of the Duchy of Cornwall, and hem again be was rear°
did on"
admit that in Mr. Burke's time there
good
But mangeouyndaoffor
theeensu.scringn the
ol then
ounextsisupear;d
hassaelloringino_'
been suppremed, indeed every office which had becess:
"
vacant since the birth of the Prince of Wales. At the e.
time, he must express hie profound conviction, whlictfio
these details, that they were mitten in which the public
no interest, and consequent) no right whatever to eli ks
for if the Prince of Wales chose to pa certain offis_....e
duchy the amount of salary which pleased bias, so
had any tight to_guestion these payments. Sines the
of the Prince of Wales the Marquis of Hertford, who
Lord Warden of the Btannaries, at a salary of 211001.11 r—
h•
had died. A great in, would have been inflicted ea

La

:!. °/l.

lllesion, if this elks had been abolished, mad
tty-it was retained ; but his Rant Highases Prises
las estimated to it without aay the Chan-
'Wks a the Duchy had bees pea a oaken el SOW. • are.
The peanut Chancellor, Mr. Timbales Leigh. whose Iseal
knowledge end &Nifty woe well hamwa in that house, sew
the duties of the. tinge without • Islay.
ger ;witherr oaken hang ben aggellated before the asonsion
of her present Mejesty, it would sot ba right to detain
thew viduak et their can Although the Weeies
Mad be paid dur:ng the lives of the pretest holden, those
Olivia would be abolished. The property being sawed
by in members of the mused sad the eseneary, tee whole of
the email acted without salary—the setrotary, of coarse,
bad • salary. The ate members of_:cenneil were—Prises
Albers • the Chief Ccamksioner of Woods sad Forests, •
menthen: ex officio; the chancellor of the diocese; hir.Penis
baton Delp, ; Mr. George Edward Anne, who held
the cffin cf keeper of her Majeay's privy paw, and
seal as treasurer to his Roma Highaimi the Prince
of Weise ; and there were two private members of the coon-
: Lord Portmaa gad himself (the Earl of Lice +m).
He• believed they had find the salaries at a minimum, end
then was ao property to the same eztent which was ma-
naged at so small an expense. The whole of the proceeds of
the duchy, after paying the expense, were invested for the
benefit tat the prince. The same would be deem in the ease
of any other miner. He could mean the hos. gentleman,
that sotwithstanding his complaints, there had been angular
inenw every year sloes the introduction of the new system,
altheaghcf course the snit m 'fantasias the reseipt of tithe to
the syt t of abolisning all tithe, made the receipts much Its,
this If the old et stem had bean persevered en. Bat he
would now tell the hoe. gentleman why the balance-sheet
was not go favourali'e is the last two or throe as in others—
and here he mast ssy that he thought his hon. friend had
not acted a ith complete fairness as regarded the duchy. As
act was paned, which he defied tuna* cosonted with Corn-
wall not to approve of, the Stesionable Mason Commission
Act. In order to put the whole property of the county is
sedebetery position, it was moat essential to dela,
the rights of the derby, as distinguished from the
Waits of the of inhabitants. Undoubtedly, there
had been a very peat pull oa the purse el
the ditch , and it had been (or earning out this ant.
X y it would be of advantage to the dunby of Corn-
wall. Whoa these sneaks wen mode me the Duchy of
Cerawall it ahead have been fairly represented that although
these had bees abuses, the ease e **longer existed, or if
they nand, they were merely nnacants of the old system,
MI there was every prospect that in a 'Sett time the position
el the Dube of Cornwall end the country would to most
nedsable. He must my a kw wads se to the Duchy
el Lancaster. He admitted to the hon. gentleman at ones
did the Derby of Lancaster was sot at the present moment
la • Wiest-trey position ;at the estate time he was quite
Bare that Lord Camp's, 11 was most anxioas, whenever the
00111• WI eared, to remove eve ry abuse that existed in t 1
elacliy. The hem. entlesnan woeld hodly forget that the
deskablasees of placing this duchy in a more favourable
patios was felt by the crown shout • ear and • half aeo.
A nonce' was appointed to etfeet sometime like• perms cut
management of the duchy, me therefore tl soy appointed gen-
tlemen of this sad the other hou e, who should give their
gratuitous services. He conidered that the malt
of the new management would be to increase the
remise, Put her M.j.ety would derive no benefit during her
life. When the hoe. gentleman said that he considered it
was understood that the duchy of Lancaster was te be is-
eluded in the other paste, the hon. ataienten was set de-
ceived, bat eleeeivod himself. The duchy of Lamar was
held sneer • totally Menace title Irma the net of the pro-
perty, and soles it was speeisliy m otioned would n- t ees
with Le reminder of the crown property. The boa.
gentleman bandit his attention drawn to it an the
seceesiss of William IV. did not endeavour oa the
secession of her present Majesty to obtain the sr.
reagenteat whit' be said was promised him on • termer
cotesion. Hs (Lord Liaeoln) could not think that parlia
mat was ailed epos to rectify his mistake, anal mow appoint
a stamina of the hones to interfere with the management
of property which, by a deliberate act of parliment, was
placed use a differen: footing during the life of the sovereign.
The bee. gentleman had stated that in this duchy 12,0001.
only hid been t aid into the privy purse out of •
pose revenue of 31,1401. • year. He admitted that it wee
a very small propertioe, and there was coosideraVe
room I. r improvement; but he was perfectly confidant
that ao committee, if it had a right to interfere, could place
this duchy on the footing on which it ought to he placed.
It must not be expected, es regatdsd the duchy of Lancaster,
that it could ever ;ley to the public purse or the purse et the
energize anything like the proportionate income which •
private indivWual iteriesd from his estate, because it con-
sisted of a number of minute properties scattered all over
the country, which required more expensive agency
than in the ease of private property. He admitted
all the incenvenitnees of the property, but as loog
as it remained is its present position it could not
be more economically administered. la reference to the
ease mentioned by the hon. member for Stoke, the duchy
had nothing to do with the conduct of that case except this
It wen held that the lessee, under the peculiar circumstances
of the case, bad au Equitable claim not to be left to fight a
losing battle with an immense number of powerful oppo-
nents, and the duchy undertook to snot the lessee. It it
was considered unfair and improper that the owner
of manorial property, possession the right of manor
under lands on which parties had keowinely and
after due caution built expensive houses, whin were
subsequently injured by the working of the mica below,
if it was coraidered an aorta thing that the owner of these
mines should be enabled to work these mines without
being relied on for compensation tor damage, let the hos.
member for Stoke introduce • bill to rectify that defect in
the lite, but let him sot bring it forward as a metal com-
plaint sgainst the duchy of Lancaster. He had only funny
to say Wit he trusted that the house would give a decided
negative to the motion of the hon. member.
Mr. BASS bore testimony to the efficient manner in
which the Oaks of the duchy were adminktered„

AN Hoc Hamnan eomplained that a gentleman wholly
ussonneeted with the county Palatine had been appointed
clerk of the peace lor Lancashire, by the late Lord Holland.

Mr. TRELAWNY, in reply, disclaimed all pereml
soothes. His only of jert yea to snake the Doke of Corn-
wall a priori of 50,000 k a year, a consideration el come
importance when the question of the yens, prinee's main-
tisanes ems before the house.
After a few words from the Berl of lancet ...4, the Masi
divided.—For the motion 27
Asainat 74-47
STEAM MARINE.

Oa the notion of Mr. ANDBMION, a select emeanittee
ens appointed to inquire tato the practicability of yrovidiap,
by saimae of the cosateretal stem wise of the .miry, s
TIMM steam am, available fcv the Italians' de'enco want
required, sad of thereby effecting s large reduction of the
naval expenditure.