The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-05 00:00:00

Vie elllrtoo*

OUTGOING MALTA
!Masan to, Madan, obi Bran* and Basta Apes
will bs was up this day, Nev. 6.
,_ The mils am Kamilla. to the Maharanees.
Myles, India, Bintgactag, M., will be nods up tialit
mufti of Nan 7.
The writ wale fer Liebeadlpais, std Gibraltar will be
weft swims New. 7.
TM Wad talk Mails, amindlas liernada, Havasna,
Nam., Madura, New Weise, and Mezlae, and ierhaist
elen• lan Kaaba, et. I ma.deMiarearsa. New Granada,
and Para. will la mat up es Kw. 17.

• MCI WATTS AT LAMM 11:11/DGIL
rimarti-16-41.=, Tras.

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5.

The &mod Report of Lord DUNCAN'S committee
ea " the Woods and Forests sad Land Revenues oe
. Its Crowe "is ready for delivery. If its disclosures
• :elle sot so 'startling se those of tbs first, it is only be-
anie the public are now folly prepared for any re-
- Malliffiess respecting this department, however extra-
•
Tian, irst Report dealt with matters specially affect-
tag thip Wads and Forests this Beoood Report
Me& to us the management of the "landed estates
MA motors in Englsnd and Wales, of the land me-
nus in Ireland and Scotland, of the revenues of Al-
borg and Man, and of the leasehold house (rate in
711. woods, forests, and parks, are, as is well
bows, ur der the special providence of Mr. Commis-
sioner Mmes. The management of the landed
estates, &c ,is vested in his colleague, Mr. Commis-
sioner Goss. Mr. Commissioner (303.3 was ap-
pasted to his office in 1839, through the influence of
the late Earl of Bessnoloom then chief commis-
goner, to whore daughter Mr. Commissioner Goa/
was subsequently married.
The first and prominent fat which appears upon
the face of this second report is, that Mr. Commis-
sioner Ootte is utterly and entirely ignorant of every-
thing appertaining to the duties he is professing to
perform. MAioccnt himself—the renowned hero of
the" Non mi rioordo" evidence—was infinitely more
lucid in his statements than was Mr. Commissioner
Gone in the course of his examinstion by this cont.
mittee. We glean some specimens from the earlier
portions of the commiseloner's evidence. He is
asked, remember, about matters immediately
under his own care, superintendence, direction, and
control.

---
Q. With respect to the acutely of this return, have you
any reason to doubt it ?
Ans. I have not examined the details and, therefore, 'I
canna state.
Who brought each and swat bills into parliament
authorising the investment of these mollies? I do not know
Why was a certain account submitted to you 2—As.
I cannot say.
Why was a certain 6,0001. transferred to the land revenue ?
—1 am not aware.
Here is a defalcation of 41,0004 : how much of it has been
recovered 2—l comsat say.
Have active steps been taken to recover it ?—I cannot
What are the Chantey rents ?—I do not know.
Were the Peadrell rents granted by Chutes the Second ?
—Probably.
What are the collective tab—from palatial recollection ?
/cannot state.
What is the amount of the Viscontial relies ?—As I had
no intimation from the committee uatil 10 o'clockithis morn-
ing that my attendance would be required this day, I am
not prepued to answer that question.
tiers is a specimen of the information of our rulers !
When his evidence wu printed Mr. GORR was so
ashamed of it that be wanted to strike one half of it
eat, for the purpose of substituting other answers.
To this, however, the chairmen objected. Mr. Gotta
persisted, and it was found necessary to appeal to the
House of Commons. Many of our readers will pro-
bably recollect a discussion which thereupon occurred
towards the dose of the lest seesios. It ended in the
reeppointmont of the committee, after it had made its
report, in order to enable it to re-examine Mr. Goat
And thereupon the honourable commissioner favoared
the committee with two pages of corrections sad
aerate, to which, in the printed reports, the reader is
referred by Ws notes at about ever: second page.
The effect of the evidence published in this second
report is to estab!ish in a still strong. r p.cint of vie.
the culpahle negligence which, for years =
has prevailed in the department over
these commissioners preside. When we recorded the,
ex!racrdiury defalcation of Mr. WILLIAM Suto
Karr, we supposed it to be a solitary instance. It
some. ost, in this report, that defalcations have bum
matters of cemmon, of almost every-day, occurrence
in the Woods and Forests! Mr. Commissioner Goals
speaks of them quite funnily, treats them as a capi-
tal joke, and excites the risibility of the committee bi
referring to one of the most serious of them as having
°warred when he "was four years old '--41 baby in
long clothes breeding up for a whig oommissitner-
ship. But the Commissioners cf Audit treat the
matter far more seriously than Mr. GORE. When
the Commissioners of Audit were called upon to exa-
mine the Woods and Rotate accounts, they
thought it right to report specially to the Treasury
on the subject of these defalcations and arrears:
We hays expesiesced considerable difficulty la the mane
of oar 'gemination of these accounts. In the first place, we '
request your lordship's attention to Ow stout whiek ant
entered SHORT in the book of accounts for the year 1882-3, ,
as " Rents continued in charge sad returned es illuiable,"
and which ate carried forward from year to year. It "spews'
to us that these must fall under one of two conditions: either
that they are desperate and illevlable or that from oevaiyea
or other castes they hove been permitted to tall into arrest,
bat, nevertheless, mieht, perhaps, U duly Investigated, be
mow red for the public benefit.
We have not space for all that the Commissioners
of Audit say upon this subject. Their report is a
very long one. They state that there is an enormous
amount of uncollected rents under the amusing, but
not very intelligible designation of "Old Supers"
and " New Superb;" that the Irish quit rents " uncol-
lected," are returned at 88,0001. aloe; that there are
" standing arrears," amounting to 18,0001. more • and
that there are also " current arrears," istated
at 57,0001. additionaL The nature of three
arrears is necessarily very various; arid,
in many cases, they are difficult to come at,
but Mr. Wimon, an experienced collector of crown
revenues, says that he believes " if be was author-
ised to employ aiprivate solicitor, instead of sending
everything to be dote by the Woods and Forests, he
could sac iver these arrears with greater facility." In
fact, the major part of them have arisen from the in-
attention, negligence and ignorance of the depart-
ment, who are sacrificing the property of the crown
and the revenue of the public every day that they
remain in office.
Some of the cues of defalcations and arrears
witch appear upon the evidence are abso-
lutely monstrous. There was a Mr. WILLIAM
HARRY WaiTe, a receiver of crown rents, and a
large purchaser of crown property. He appears to have
hew a defaulter some years ago to the tune of no less ;
than 41,0001., despite the provisions of an act of per-
Bement providing that no crown collector should
have a balance of more than COOL in his hands at one
time. Another receiver, Mr. thurrrras, in Wales,
was also a large defaulter. He every year swore to
his teceents before the barons of the Exchequer, and
`in these accounts returned as " irreuverable" large
some of mosey which he appears to have received.
There is also the ace of an auctioneer, who was em-
ployed to mil materials belonging to the crown.
lie received 3,0001., the produce of his sales,
pocketed it, And soon after appeared in the
Clasen.. Only last year (1848) there was a very
large defalcation at Glasgow. The crown re-
eivers of the revenues of the archbishopric
NiflillaigoW became bankrupts, having nearly 5,0001.
-of *own moneys in their hands. The Commissioner,
hand Forests had actually reported to par-
Irsigmat,o4l7 a week or two before these failure, that
the balance in the hands of these receivers was only
1271.! This shewe-411e--seet- of supervision that is
exercised, mut tha fart of bowled', which the
contmimioners possess of what is goieg forward.
*alto soon a pitch has *keens, that Mr. Commis-
ieririoaa &Unlash treats such things as perfect
matters of Gower
Nor is it alto4ifher Without reason that Mr. Com-
missioner GORE should- treat such defalcations as
*Stalls of course. He lalesuff admits that there is
no doe& whatever on the mowers. Every gagman
and gentlemairwho-possrsooralanded estate has got
a rent book : but TEM WOODS AND FOINSNI PONSENI
NO 001111aCT IIENTAL
Jr, Men emus& rentals is Awes el the last revenue/
--Net in aII meas.
In what male have you set esereet rata !—Wis have
net leen able to make a correct metal of the Orkney estate.
Is there a wenn natal el the Isle el Man estate 2—The

vestal apes whisk the rosiest of the Is am"
amens, is, I baioye, a Genoa vestal.
Is there a wrest sesta of the blast it*.
The natal ea whisk the Oldie Lal• el
sonny wawa% isa 4. .4*
Is Sas a sweet natal be Wales Theik k a reoldllr
Web% whisk I believe sMoilea.osntab and with rai-
ds Se went sots, bat whisk is delestive `.et 'mug a
1111111110 dmetkpana of the
ilairinla whist the sat
imam to enable go mesh,: to the oreperty_._
Ass Ike mob alkolloi ea that ve reistai?—The rests
ere ealitsenellis Sea vista/
Hew kg loos Sey bees sellestsd upon that &laths
rental t—l WNW ALWATi I
Sew de tho ossiiiiesteoses Immo whether the Testa lave
benasesswizoneellred,if the na
afi w.
t—Theystest
vim rootiver.
Who mom have the commissional* of hawing whether
W nesivals have daly seareated for the vests t—Ths as-
versas rosedavil 8y Se rseekor.
This is really about as cool evidence as ever was
ventured even by an ofilciaL
We mast defer till another day further expaure of
the abases this report exposes; bat in the mention
we are bowl, on the part of the public, to tender our
most gratefel thanks to Lord DUNCAN for the trouble
be has taken in explaining this apparently inexhanat-
'ible raise of oSdal abuse. When we consider the
obstacles which the government throw in his way,
—the intimidation, even, which be had to brave,—we
really do feel that the public owe to that noble lord
an amount of obligation which it will be long before
they an adequately pay.

The Fin of November has long been kept by eer li
-
tain factions and fanatical people as a day of party
triumph and sectarian exattatton. In England such
remembrances have, Indeed, become associated rather
with subjects of ridicule than with those of respect.
Even the urchins in back streets treat the effigy of
Our Fewxis as a toy ; and from one end of the
island to the other not a shedder or a groan can in
these matter-of-tact days be got up by recitals of the
threadbare tale about gunpowder barrels and the
dark !anthem.
Bat in Ireland such reminiscences are anything but
a joke. The national temper has been so thoroughly
spoiled by vexatious and wanton misrule that old
irritations have never had time to heal, and the
wounds of remote infliction continually bleed afresh.
What is still worse, there are a numerous and active
fret of men, specially endowed and favoured by the
state, whose business it seems expressly to be, to tear
the thin skin off each cicatrice whenever it threatens
to close, and who deem it their interest as well is
their function to be unwearied in political ill-doing.
Whenever Orangeism stems to subside, and its mis-
chievous follies to go out of fashion,