The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-26 00:00:00

" Great Stanhope-street, Oct. 25.
"Dear Sir,—l have just zect-i %Ted your letter of yes-
terday, is whi,:ii von, trte that diffiou'titt; have arisen in
CO ,eIO-oce iif a variety of opinions entertained respect
lug the qualification of a vestryman under the Metropolis
Act. I cannot give you any opinion upon the case, but.
I will state to you the facts in relation to the qualifies;
tion of vestrymen.. Excepting as regards one point, I
was anxious in passing my bill to adopt as close as pos-
sible the provisions of 1 and 2 William IV., c.'6o, com-
monly called ' Hobhouse's Act.' In order to show you
hew closely the sixth section of my bill corresponds with
the 26th section of Hobhonse's Act, I place them side
by side :-
Ist and 2d William IV., a. 18th and 19th Victoria, c.
60, s. 26. 120, a. 6.
•
" 'And' be it further " ' The vestry elected
enacted, thst the vestry under this act in any parish
elected under this act in any shall consist of persons
parish not within the metro- rated or assessed to the re-
politan police district or the lief of the poor upon a ren-
city of London, shall can- tal of not less than 401. per
sist of resident householders annum, and no person shall
rated or assessed to the re- be capable of acting or being
lief of the poor upon a rental elected as one of such vestry
of not less than 101., and no for any parish unless he be
vestry, unless he shall he the taments in such parish, and
occupier of a house, lands be rated or assessed as afore-
tenements, or heredita- said upon such rental as
personacting shallas one be
of capable
blesa ofid tlahneds occupier
tenements,eu or heredi-
pier of a house,
menu, rated or assessed aforesaid withintuch parish.'
upon the aforementioned
amount of rental; within
the parish for which he
is to serve : provided
always that if theparish adopting this act should be within
the metropolitan police district or the city of London, or
if the resident householders therein should amount to
more than 3,000, then, and in that case, the vestry se- i
lected under this act shall consist of resident house-
holders rated or assessed to the relief of the poor of such
parish upon a rental of not less than 40/. per annum.'
"The manifest point of difference is this :—Under the
former set a person to be qualified must be a resident
householder; under the recent act he need not be resi-
dent. The object was to meet the cases of those persons
who occupied but did not reside. Take, for instance,
the case of a large tradesman, merchant, solicitor,
wharfinger, &c. Such persons may pay heavy rates in
a parish and reside in the suburbs, instead of the more
crowded parts of the town, where their business calls
them daily. Under the former act they were excluded
from election ; they are now eligible for election. In
other respects, the clause in the new act corresponds with
the clause in the old. Such being the case, if there
is any difference of opinipn as to the construction
to be put upon the clause, the cause of such difference
has existed since the year 1831, when Hobhouse's Act
was passed. You reside in St. Pancras ; Hobhouse's
Act has been in force in that parish .since the year 1831
or 1832, and you were a vestryman elected under that
act ; you must be therefore aware of the decision of the
judges of the Queen's Bench in Easter Term, 1834, upon
the very case which you set forth in your letter. (Vide
Adolphus and Ellis, vol. 1., p. 80, `the King against
the Churchwardens of St. Pancras.')
"The point submitted in 1834 was, that `the parish
is within the metropolitan police district. Some of the
persons elected as vestrymen were not in the actual
occupation of houses, lands, tenements, or heredita-
ments' for which they were rated to the poor of the
parish on a rental of so much as 40/. per annum ; but
they were rated to the poor on that amount in the
whole, a part of the rate laid upon them arising from
tenements not in their actual occcupation. Other persons
elected as vestrymen were in the actual occupation of
tenements for which they were rated in the whole on
the rental required by the act, but the tenements were
separately occupied, and did not constitute one entire
tenement. It was objected that under the 26th section
of the statute 1 and 2 William IV., chap. 60, no person
was qualifiel to ant as a vestryman who was not rated
on a rental of 40/. per annum for one single tenement in
his actual occupation.'
"It was argued on the other side that 'the 26th sec-
tion specifies only two qualifications for the vestrymen
of a parish within the metropolitan police district—first,
they must be resident householders ; secondly, they
must be rated or assessed upon a rental of not less than
40/. The vestrymen whose titles are impeached by the
third objection possess both qualifications. The proviso
does not say that the rental obeli be taken upon the house
in which they reside, nor that it shall not be made up of
sums assessed upon separate tenements. No stress can
be laid on the use of the words ' a rental,' a rental may
consist of separate sums constituting one whole. The
provision made in the same section with respect to
parishes not within the metropolitan police district is
very differently worded.'
"The judges discharged the rule which bad been ob-
tained. Mr. Justioe Littledale said, 'lt is enough here
if the householder be rated to the poor on the rental re-
quired. He must be a householder, and he must be
rated ; but it is not necessary that he should be rated
for the house which he occupies ; it is not enough for
him to have, for instance, a house on which he is rated
at a rental of 20/., and land on which he is rated at a
rental of 20/. ; or it is enough if he be rated for part
which he occupies, and for part which he does not occupy,
but of which he is landlord. It is no matter how he is
rated if the whole together amount to the rental required.
I can see no reason for this mandamus going.'
" Mr. Justice Parke said, 'Now, by the words of this
section it is sufficient if 'the householder be rated in
any way ; it is not necessary that he should be rated in
respect of the subject of his occupation. 1.4010 w that, in
fact, persons are rated for property whicrllley du not
occupy, and therefore I construe the statute as compre-
hending a rating upon any property. I find no express
provision that the rate shall be in respect of the property
occupied, and I cannot infer such an intention.'
" Mr. Justice Littledale concurred, and said, 'I am
of opinion that this rule ought to be discharged,' and the
rule was discharged accordingly.
" If, therefore, such was the decision of the judges in
the case ' .Rex v. the Churchwardens of St. Pancras, as

given in 1834, that decision must hold good now,
unless it can be shown that the words of the new act are

different from the words of the former act.—l am, dear
sir, yours faithfully, "13. HALL.
" B. Goodwin, Esq."

THE BRITISH GERMAN LEGION.

On Wednesday the Duke of Cambridge paid an unex-
pected visit to the German Legion at Shorncliffe Camp.
His Royal Highness, whose object was to make himself
acquainted with the state of discipline of the corps and
their system of drill, dressed in plain clothes, and at•
tended only by Colonel Kinloch, arrived by the morning
train from London, and took them by surprise and un•
c abitt
ti
ifit
ensnthdfegbear
tita
rhnbhoi
eoeeosti
fnpnusc
girtaatoni
hospitals,
fi,i
laubstliasirnfpiyettgeaehachgre,
tan,
veewhrl
del suarhefiyteni s
sec:,
unfinished
and
akeinastreyi
et:Rh:
yb
peaivadysr
ttnat stables--
the
e under
e state—
the str—ho
4:
prepared.
and 3d Regiments of Light Infantry were
a e
paraded,Alatter
2i inspecting
regiments (each nearly 1,000 strong) went through
command of Brigadier General Baron von Stutterheim,
severalte oa
mTthbpee
were
ngreatebrner manoeuvresnvbsi as,
nese proceeded on foot to Sandgate, where he honolioinirgtelde.
the Baron and Baroness von Stutterheim with his pre-
sence at luncheon, the commanding officers of regiments
and the heads of departments being invited to meet him-
His Royal Highness returned to town by an afternoon
train, leaving the whole of the officers and molt
to be under the command of a General v/13%0_
duty
and
him-
self so thoroughly acquainted with all details of
of the
everything relating to the comfort and m
;obi
nimnnyo
d partiesto
visit o
surprisedat th •
lbiegahrtiendg, wanitdh
still
is
ninoobrele,insnorldeasierindgiketlyeiert
anxunsohiltuweseietaddrs_teisol.o
soldier.
their good
ladiest h
eT chae
mafinpnd,e
gwOehncott
lowebmeerer:
agreeably d
from
m h etdh
ei nnde,
fortune in being present at the review during the royal

visit.
Lord Hardinge, on the embarkation
the copy of a letter from Major-
Theo
• " agreeable past of my duty to the corps
~ sir,—lt is
you, for the information of the Field-Marshal
to report to y
ainff n-Chief, rho regularity d • •
an soldies.like do.Comm"----1 1 t of the ••BRegiment of Jagers of tie British
meanour .
Legion on their embarkation at this port, on board
German
the steamer Imperatrix, for foreign. service. Although eon-
f the Ist Jager Corps of the British German Legion :
siderablo detention arose on the part of the railway, so that
it was nearly dark before the second division arrived, and
quite so before many of them were on board, not a man
was either drunk or absent. At the moment that the head-
quarter division of the Jagers were entering the dockyard
General Breton
to embark they were met by the large detachment of in-
valids proceeding to head quarters who had just bees
landed from the steamer Alma ; the loud cheers of greeting
with which the gallant fellows were hailed by the young
aspirants for those honours which the former had gained
bore a touching and spontaneous homage to their good
o 18l or sevtionng
to is
service and gallantry, and were strongly indicative of the
soldier•liko spirit in which they embarked.
" I have the honour to be, &c.,
" H. W. BRETON,
Major-General Commanding."

COUNTY COURTS.—From an important return just
issued, printed by order of the ri.llse Of Lola, it
pears that the judges' salaries are 7 , •' the fees were
22 treasurers receive 13.8:01. In 18_4
~.
has the f 1.
253,5181., and the payment in salar2ieosoS7'
Journal, deep in
blvizaidthat the
ME CAVAN OUTRAGE.—A northerntaJors,
the injuries°
the confidence of the tenant-rightefearget
is
notO raenngi ey
n‘cte_ to
now
lodgeder
ilne gh
lowing cold-blooded remarks in r
sustained by the unfortunate
Miss liiinnds
ladyub:lrheclit. the appears
grossly exaggerated.
Neither
h
tphaaptertehewancscount of this outre_gep
still living, but recovering.
Was broken,
wNor was she ever speechless or senseless, as the Mail's
nor was there a bulletN erenrorbraariatn.
correspondent reported. Indeed we shall not be Bur-
prised 'to learn by-and-by that no shot at all was fired at
her. Roughly used she seems to have been, but it is
now clear that she got nothing more than a ' sevets
heating.' Whether it was the intention of lit r assailants
to murder her is, therefore, now very doubtful, seeing
how little they did to effect that purpose, if they enter: .
tr.ined it at all. The lady appears to have been more
4:rightened than hurt, or she would not be pronounced
doing well a few days after v:e were told that her body
had been mangled by blows and a bullet lodged in her
we
brain ! It murder was the object of hoer assailants._
0,
hope she will soon recover to disappe.int their_,wielt a
purpose, and prosecute them if she kilt ryes them: