The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-23 00:00:00

THE PREROGA-TIVE OFFAICE.

To THE EDIToIt OF-THE TINEi. •
Sir,—Mr. Moore, the greatest sinecurist in th . king-
.dew, commenced his let.ter of .the 14th Of Au , us% with
these words," T.'let the pubLe „ins), not be I;islit 4 on
the subject of the-Prer.igatl've-Office, the'emoltihnee it Of
my office of Principal Registrar, er the manner in 1 hick
thoduties of the office.have b=en fadlieri;"--but he, does
not-give the public any idea of what the outoluniet is of
the office are. ile knows that the sum sttelea in, your
leading 'article is far below the real 'amount (..f his ;sine-
cure income, and he is silent upon the subject. He
antiquity,merely ad adds,
d",the n tolafor-t - patent one ,of rest
(any more Haan Any
other patentees similarly circumstanced) should be held
up by you to public odium, and. made the subject
of misrepresentation and exitggerution." These are
Mr. Moore's words, and with your pt 'rafts-
sion I will prove that you have nowt 'been
guilty of misrepresentation or exaggeration. —that
the emoluments of the office are greater than 705 t have
named—that Mr. Moore is in the enjoyment of se o
im-
meese income, and does little or nothing in return and
that the Prerogative Court is a disgrace to the (sou fury.
Mr. Moore was appointed registrar by his fathizr, I kreh
bishop Moore, on the 6th of December, 1799. ~80 is
then described ies of Christ Church, Oxford-1 to was
probably a minor at the time; he is nominated i. x con-
junction with two other relatives of the same nate e, one
.of whom was a prebendary of Canterbury, and the other
M.P. forSVoodstock. The fees received by the re.k. ;istrar
asin elnB4aBvearmagoeunfotredthteo
51,
30894 L 6
years
:. 63.
ince Tthedaaktiengoftlitbi set;
relatives
sd
htsoveproveZitvhede
fPrOi Intnatbee°Pubhil
ic,
office, no less than
wills of tboir relatives in this
r.
577,799 L 4s. 6d. There is not any exaggeration in. th is;
Mwhooorehasvnedbele)ins
croemiapt
neither is there any misrepresentation. In addition to
hashis been
.proportion of the above enormous sum, Mr. Mpore

RPercetboerndoafrayuonftConaaztoerybeuaryrs4B years L5O,OOO*
Rector of Lttdaenden 48 years
46,000-

Making another total of £133,400
117 much duty he hag done for these sums it would be
difficult to define. But to return to the Prerogative.
office. Mr. Moore is not the only sinecurist. The office
abounds with those happy people: neither is he the only
one of his name. Ho has a nephew, whom he appointed
" clerk of a seat," the Rev. G. B. Moore, and he received
in 1848 2,0401. for doing nothing—paying a deputy.
Mr. G. 13. Moore has also the living of Tunstail, near
Sittingbourne, worth about 6001, per annum, from which
living he has received about 9,0001., having been ap-
pointed in 1837. There are four other
seats
are called in the office; one, worth 1,7254 6:.-..," as they
led., is
"
held by the three deputy-registrars, and the duty
,is
done by deputy: another, worth 3,2514 na 3d., is held
by two Messrs. Abbot, one of whom perform, the duty,
the other doing nothing; and it would be an endless task
to detail the enormities of abuses in the Proregenive Court.
If any of your readers wish to satisty themselves, let therm
look at a Parliamentary paper already brought under
the notice of the public in reference to this court and to
the Episcopal Court of Wells by Sir Benjamin Hall.
It is entitled " Second Report; Fees in Courts of Law,"
will and is No. 711 of the session of, 1850. and the price is
3s. 6d. It is a document well worth perusal. It will
there be seen how great is the sinecure patronage of
Mr.
Moore,
who
thei teamed
public
are.t h er
robbed
dt
tsoi nme eaukrei sot ;;;:hheesY
see how s
ovmaseteine6odm. incomes—rifioczottifeopruwbloicrkpathyaris.,acantudautyhe
will
also
see
the
appointmento allow
wofonorliktfisginhilge
lid.—how all the fees are at the maximum, and how the
judge was petitioned t
because "
the great sinecur" "
these words of
this
of his emoluments to pay . let would not give up any
presents
To all the faithful in
an Act
Cbehgriinstniuringtowiwthhom these
notwithstandingof seats shall b "great sinecnrist,
how,
declares
that
c lerks
their duty in person, this Act is set
proctors, and do
These, and many other wonders ofetthlst nought,
court, and of other courts equally vicious in Principle,
they will see, and they will read the report of thendoPle'
mittee, of which Mr. Bouverie was chairman, and moi
which the present and the late Attorney-General, Mr.
Walpole, Mr. Henley, Mr. Roundell Palmer, Sir w.
Page Wood, Mr. Stuart Wortley, Mr. Hume, Sir .I",,„vis
Graham, and others were members. In this report the
gross abuses of the Ecclesiastical Courts are severely
animadverted upon, and the whole is summed up in these
words:—" Your Committee, in conclusion, invite the
consideration of the House to the evidence taken before
them, which is a proof that the attention of Parliament
should be directed without delay to the epplioation of
the necessary remedies." And, having read the evidence
arhrai-leli
leasm officers;
cb
eeonm:ga,edn:dwtni laehtrakahfiepcnoeshnd:,
and the report, your readers will then ask, " Why should
these abuses continue, and wby does not Parliament in-
terfere to save the public from such extortions? "
Mr. Moore seems to beg the question, why should he
and his court be selected for public consideration in
preference to all others? He will find an answer set
forth in the report of the Committee in the following
words:—

" Your Committee have dwelt at some length on the
Prerogative Court, partly because it is the Ecclesiastical
Court collecting the largest amount of fees, and partly
because the mode of their appropriation affords an in-
stance of a long known and still uncorrected abuse."
When the subject was last noticed in the House of
Commons by Sir Benjamin Ball, an intimation was
given by the present Government that a Bill should be
introduced next session; and it is to be hoped that any
Legislative proceedings will go to the root of the evil,
and that such abominations as the Ecclesiastical... Courts
now are may bo swept away. I have the honour to be,
Sir, Your obedient servant, _ _

AN EXECUTOR.

GREENWICH TIME SIGNALS.

The arrangements for transmitting true Greenwich
time automatically from the Royal Observatory by
electric telegraph are now completed and in practical
operation on the South. Eastern Railway.
At noon and at four P.M. a single beat or deflection
of the telegraph needle is visible at London, Ton-
bridge, Ashford, Folkestone, and Dover, which repre-
sents Greenwich mean time. The first time signal
from Greenwich was taken experimentally by Mr. C.
V. Walker in the clock-room at the London terminus
at four P.m., August 5, passing down to Dover. The
eleven ex. signal, on August 9, was received at
London in the presence of Dr. O'Shlughnessy, of
Calcutta ; and the noon signal of the same day in the
presence of Mr. Herbert, the secretary of the South-
Eastern Railway Company. Since that time experi-
ments have been daily made, end the necessary ad-
justments completed; and the daily transmission of
time commenced at noon, August 19, and will be
continued from day to day. At two rae.. the signal
will pass in like manner automatically to stations on
the North Kent line ; and arrangements are in pro-
gress by which all stations on the South-Eastern lines
of railway shall have true time at least once a day.
The methods of accomplishing this may be readily
understood. A treiu of wheels has been cons':,ructed
by M. Shepherd, which is kept in motion by Mr.
Carter's large clock at the London terminus. Cer-
tain of these wheels carry one or more
pins or etude,
according to the number of signals required,
hours at which they are required. In the common
state of thiege, when these etas are out of action,
re
or
the wire leading from Greenwich Observatory rests
on the wire that will eventually lead to Lothburyrests
the Strand; and the wire leading from nt'vgr
tainating at
on a wire leading to the earth, and te.r l
t. m
; d with pa mu ,
Lon dun ; that is to say, springs t•PPe and the
oh other. But
and terminating these wires rest on
things are now settled,
on the approach of noon,
wheel that revolves
a pin inserted for this hourastbtg:bi
ter of springs ; and a Pin in times passes clean
once in the hour, which at
in thrusts thiseclus-
contact with the Dover
up the springs, now commelnutes before the hour, lifts
spring, and, at aboutelkGreenwich wire, at the same
time clearing the latter it into contact with the
in this position for about 9k
from the Lothbury or Strand
wire; and it holdoon
necting Dover with Greenwich
minutes, thus the signal'
ready to receir ....r.
Shepherd's electro-magnetic
At Greenwich, lu.
It is connected in such a manner
clock is ill !ice leading from London, that precisely on
with the
-.11 established between a spring attached to this
:road of the last minute of the hour a con-
"l.exi6-.0g..td1:- eanother attached to the ordinary sand-acid
wire l''''' i r
battery used tor telegraph purposes, and a signal of
instantaneous duration passes.
ir. Carter's clock pursues its course, the pin passes
forward, the Dover wire returns to its place, and the
b Y w
wire is again free for telegraphic purposes, until an.
other pin arrives and thrusts forward the springs,
which, in this case, will be 4 P.M.
In respect to the Lothbury wire, this connexion is
not yet established, but will be in a few
will have da s hen
the Electric Telegraph Company the ' means
of taking a time signal at any of the remaining 21
hours, and having it visible both by dropping the
ball that has been erected in the Strand, and by dis-
tributing it throughout the kingdom
va-
rious lines of railway. om along the

THE GREAT CARD-CHEATING CASE. AT BRIGHTON 7
—ln consequence of the conviction of Sill, the attornT 11. t.
the Central Crier's' Court, on Tuesday last, Mr• steps
Howe, the solicitor, has taken the necessary prelireinr:nm_ towards prosecuting a " writ of error" as regards tneer.
The
tion of Staden and James at the last Lewes
petition to the Attorney-General in suPPoinie,
.., of the 3• writ of
error sets forth that although Staden
and to two years'
quitted of conspiracy, yet they were sentenced
including
imprisonment on all the counts of the indictment,,
lengtah and was
those for conspiracy. The petition verydsturday, so that an early
filed in the Court by Mr. Rowe, on Eie were ac-
of error be successful, not
the Court of Appeal. If the writ
liberated, but the decision
only will Staden and Jamesrobeoine.
will be favourable to John B
TOBACCO
ON
BOARD
day will be appropriated for the writ of error to be argued in
SEIZURE OF CONTRABAND
vicrORIA AND ALBERT.—IIIfOf-
lIER :MAJESTY'S
Saturday at the Custom House that
besn seized on board her Ma-
n and Albert, by &-a revenue jesty's steam-Yachttli. It is supposed that some person or
officers at Portsmouth• ma
qataiaonntiwtyasofretcoebivaceoldo'AOnCiat'o
.a
the vessel during the late visit of the
persons belongingr.... shipped the tobacco,
Queen to
the Antwerp, th p
hi belonged to her Majesty, no search
doubt, that " I this, however, they were deceived, the
made• n .
would be
goods being duly seized and lodged in the
imagining, no
contraband
gwehouse at Portsmnouth. The teloaco is
warehouse
of the first quality. A strict in.
Queen's
Into the circumstances institute,i,
• a in cumstances has been
.11. vestigatio
usual in such cases, the contrabandistas are
but,
as is
MOO!
described as