The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-18 00:00:00

Here the authors of this piece of State confisca-
tion will begin to see the danger of departing
from a high minded and moral system of dealing
with the lawful property of the subject, and
making titles to land for unprincipled and fraud-
ulent " owners," whose sole claim to legislative
consideration must have been possession, no mat-
ter how it was obtained,

But, fancy this tribunal, which was made to
clear the productive lands of Ireland of their
Millions of incumbrances, to bring fresh capital
into the country, and give to the peasant a new
and enviable status—being used to " create
" cumbrance, in order to bring it within the
" operation of the Act" which was to have freed
the soil from its dead weight ! Did pandering
to the clamour of ignorance, and the dishonest
aspirations of men seeking to make better titles
to estates than the original owners, ever meet a

more just fate There are cases of plunder re-
corded in the annals of that Court, which are
enough to brand the age with a degree of public

immorality unknown in history. The case in
which VitmlctsKA STOCK was described as the
owner, is one of the many which call for public
investigation, particularly when we find a Peer,
in his place in Parliament, calling attention to
what he considers, " practically frauds on the
" revenue," SADLEIR and his party knew well
the valuo of au act which gave a nominal pur-
chaser a better title than the original owner,
and the persons engaged in the notorious
STUBBER and WOLF plunder of minors will no
doubt find it of infinite service in getting hold of
the fee simple of the STUBBER estates.
The Court was not established for the relief of
the bona fide owners of estates, and for the relief
of the creditor interest. It does not contain
the equity principle of our Bankruptcy Court or
the spirit of unimpeachable honour and honesty
which ought to mark the legislation of the nine-
teenth century. Lord CLANRICARDE states
boldly what really constitutes its leading fea-
tures, and to the many very pointed questions
he put to the Government on the subject, the
Noble Lord should have added this one :
" When will the Bank of Ireland be in a posi-
" tion to admit of the Encumbered Estates Court
'• Commissioners writing cheques for the millions
"of money that Court has placed to their
" acc6unt ?" These arrears of purchase money
belong to needy incumbrancers, who are left to
starve while the Court is thinking, in all probabi-
lity, of certain financial diffiulties The money
has been lodged, we are bound to presume, but
how is it to be drawn out ? The Bank will pan
it all at once as a matter of course. The Commis-
sioners must, consequently, be the cause of the
delay and injustice complained of by the credi-
tors. But, taking the whole affair as it really
stands, a greater legislative or social montrosity
was never before attempted. The frauds, poverty,
and discontent which it has already produced,
and the exposure it will cause when a final day
of settlement of the arrears of purchase money
is peremptorily demanded, will heap indelible
discredit and suspicion on every public man
enyannotpri with it% concoction and adminis-
tration.

THE impatience which the Pikeists manifested
during tho water debate at the last Council meeting
was not to be wondered at, when we look at the
telling exposures which were made of the reckless
profligacy, prodigality, and deception, if not abso-
lute fraud, which has characterisrd every phase in
the progress of this doubly distilled. piece of job-
bery. Small wonder, if the faction writhed-under
the sledge hammer so ably wielded by Mr. JEFFe..IIIr.
He drove them into a corner, and there he took
good care to keep them while he pelted them with-
out mercy ; and, for the first time since the contro-
versy commenced, the Pikeists were compelled to
cry, "hold enough." There were their own figures
showing the cost of the job, and proving that, in
place of 400,0001 paying for the whole, the Rate-
payers had already been victimised to the tune of
1,150,0001, or nearly thrice the original estimate.
Even the stoutest of the jobbers did not dare to
question these statements. And what was the
excuse of Mr. SAMUEL HOLME, the great dictator
of the Council ? Why, that the difference was
caused solely by the Opposition. The time has
oome when things—at least things connected with
this most nefarious scheme—must be called by
their proper names. Assuredly, a tissue of grosser
mis-statements never were uttered in a public
assembly than fell from the principal defender of
the scheme. Why, no one knew better than he
that he was stating to the Council downright
inaccuracies. The opposition to the job, on the
part of the Ratepayers, entailed no cost whatever;
it was rather the means of saving the town
_from
the disastrous consequences which must have
resulted from the carrying out of the Engineer's
original plans, which proved all to have been
framed in utter ignorance of the subject. In proof
of this, it has been absolutely necessary to procure
several supplementary Acts of Parliament, amend-
ing the original. Was the Opposition the cause of
this? A big schoolboy could not have invented a
lamer excuse than was urged by the same authority
as to the increased expenditure being caused by a
rise in wages. Why, every one knows that during
the progress of the Pike works wages were at their
minimum point. Work was scarce, and labour
most abundant, there being few railway operations
going forward ; besides, the works were all con-
tracted for without reference to the Opposition,
which did not, in reality, impede their progress
for a single week ; yet such are the wretched
subterfuges to which these conscience stricken
demagogues resort, in co der to cover their own
misdeeds. But their day of retribution may not
be so very distant.
The biting sarcasm of Mr. SHLEL, when demolish-
ing the big Pike Champion's puerile attempt to bring
contempt on the Ratepayers' petition, because many
names could not be found in the Directory, was
telling. What do the working
.men of Liverpool
think now of their self-elected leader, and boasted
defender, that is, when it suits his purpose to bo so ?
The man who would ignore the rights of the sons
of toil to petition their rulers against grievances,
real or imaginary, because their names did not
figure amongst the merchants and aristocratic
tradesmen in the directory, has, forsooth, small
claim to etyle himself the working man's friend.
The whole tenor of the debate was, in reality, a
triumph to the Anti-Pikeists, while the efforts made