The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-07 00:00:00

PERFORATED POSTAGE STAMPS.

Mr. GROGAN rose to abk the Chancellor of the
Exchequer if any arrangement had been made with the
patentee relative to the
supply of perforated postage-
stamps to the public, orif it be the intention of the Go-
vernment to purchase the patent, or agree for the use
'hereof, so that the public may enjoy the convenience of
these stamps?
Mr. C. LEWIS said that some time ago a gentleman
named Mr. Archer had offered an invention for per-
forating postage stamps to the Government. 6001. had
been offered him, which he refused; and subsequently,
by the advice of the Pust-office authorities, a further
sum of 2,0001. was offered hire. This he refused also, and
no further communication had taken place on the subject.
PATENT AMENDMENT LAW.

In answer to a questton trona Mr. CARDWELL,
Lord J. RUSSELL said, the Government would not
make any oppoeition to thp moving for a Committee on
stitijet ; and would postpone the introduction of
th, it tiill untii icy inquiry had terminated.
AIETIWPOLITAN IN nit VIEN N ACT.

In ,tosvvir to a. qiu•stion tr. .m r LUSHINUTON,
SEYWOUR, snit chat is was ni, ititeuituu to
bring in y 8.11 on [ilk ~übj et T-arly in the seisi.n.

UNDUE ELECTIONS.

Mr, BANKES rose to ask the Attorney,G,-nerai
whi,ther the indemnity given by the Act of last sessit..n
to witnesses whose restirn ny was ri-ciiviA by the Com-
missioners on the St. Alcan's inquiry has thr legal
,ft„,., of mdenThifying thwe who, i,avtrt. been witnesses
on that inquiry, wt,r:e parties c ineei neil in obstruct-
ing the proceedings of the Cotntaittec, by in-
ducinz persons summoned as witnesses to anscoud and
themseives beyond the jurisdiction of the
House? The Attorney-General not being, however,
presiAlt, the Hon. MembQr said he hopA his Learned
Colleague, the Solicitor-General, would reply to the
qq-,tiori?

It SOLICITOR-GENERAL said he had seen the
Attorney-General that day, and 1-xpeeted him every
minute, and he would rather the question should be re-
plied to by him.

Sir DE LACY EVANS asked if the Hon. Member
for Dor4etAiire intended to renew his motion for a Com-
mittee on the corrupt election proceedings at Harwich?
Mr. BANKS said he had originally proposed the
Committee in conseqa,nce of a most respectable peti-
tion he had received trom the borough. If he received
a similar petition this session, he should renew his mo-
tion for a Committee; but the Hon. and Gallant Mem-
ber had given a notice which appeared to supersede this

The SPEAKER then requested the chief clerk to
real the "liming instrumet.t of qppointment, signigd
by the Right Hon. Gentleman:—`• Pursuant to the
provisions of the Act of Parliamenr, I do hereby ap-
point L ,rd Seym,iiir. Sir G. Clerk, Mr. W. Patten,
Mr. Thornely, Sir R Ferguson, and Sir T Y. Bullers,
Merobers of the General Committee of Elections for the
present session."

- The instrument was then recorded on the journals.
Mr. BANK ES gave notice that, on the earliest possible
opportunity, he would move for a Committee to inquire
into th,, subject to which hie question of the law officers
of the Crown had reference.

ENCUMBERED ESTATES BILL.
Mr. F. FFRENCH gore notice that he should on
Monday next ask how far the Government intended to
carry this Bill. It it were carried out, how were the
proprietors liable to a mortgage to pay the money to the
mortgagees? He should, therefore, ask that question on
Monde y.
STAMPS ON PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS.
Mr. MILNER GIBSON said that Messrs. Bradbury
and Evans, the eminent printers, bad been pursued by
an action at law, for the imposition of a stamp on a pe-
riodical work which in its entirety only appeared once a
month. If he was rightly informed, it was against tQe
law to levy any stamp on a publication like that to which
he had alluded. He wished to know whether any Bid
was to be laid upon the table upon that subject?
The CHANCELLOR ,of the EXCHEQUER said
that. it was not the intention of the Government to intro-
duce any particular measure, and that for the present
at least they intended to rest upon the judgment of the
Court of Exchequer.
THE MILITIA. -,
the amount
On the motion for the organization of the Militia pro
forma,
be
ehe
Mr. MIME said that he would take that opportunity of
with wouldtldthe
inquiring
milbitfictheAn:coeny ssarraytee,xhpeetihsoepefoirtit
embodiment of t
pur-
pose sums
demanded of the country for this
proposition of the whole of the ex-
penses being Subjected to the jurisdiction
of Commons.
Sir G. GREY said, that there
ever of entering into unnecessary
was no intention whet-
ted,' simply brought in `keep "I"
expense. This Bill
and of course to provideo • up the staff of the militia,
r its cos*, but without
tendon, unless necessity should ';
ta any in-
arise, of increas in.- 1
outlay to the country. --. the
The Bill was then read a first time, 1
COURT OF CHANCERY.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL rose to
to bring in a --
Rill for improving the practice -
and said that, move for leave ,
in the Mph
Court of Chancery,
szhad br.notwithetanding the 1
many improvements which _ en made in the con- 1
duct of the law courts, much remained to be effected in ;
the refornaation of the superior courts of law.—mear,
hear.) The first of the 5e was the Supreme 'Court
of Equity. In a,
that much had been acceraphshiald
by Lord Brougham, . were always effort!, ~ . as admire
ably useful; bat of course could 0r.,1:- be, available for
the time. Lord Brougham left office, and was succeeded i
in the end by Lced Cottenham, whose ulthappy illness
fall into arrear.—(Hear,
had caused the buiine,,s ia,
was not owing
hear.) to any deficiency of that
• It
Noble Lord, but to the necessity ofthe case, and
consequently many causes were left on the paper 1
which it would have been better to dispose of. The
object of the Bill which he desired to lay on the table
of the House was to obviate the evil which
there was an evident necessity to ((wet. The BM
would further contain n Drava:tan of an import-
ant
nature; which was not recomwe:;.ded by the report of I
the Committee which had sat upon this subject. It
would, in fact, abolish the fee system.—(Hear, hear.)
Now, the fee system had been a groat nuisance f
to the suitors of the Court of Chancery,
and he bad no remedy, for the Committee, upon look•
ing into the matter, had found this startling result—
thatto
in the course of a year a suitor had
pay fees
upon something like 330,000 transactions, in one case
there had been paid 2964 113 393 PaYmeulf,-01•671
- •

LONDON,

hear.) There were 90 officers in the Court of Chancery,
but of these 90 offietrs only 40 ratified the amounts they
received by affidavit, and it was now proposed by one
part of this system to abolish the payment of
fees, which would involve a considerable saving
of time and trouble, and to substitute for it a
species of stamp, that would be issued to the
suitors, and prevent their dancing attendance upon the
ninety officers to whom he had already referred.--(Hear,
hear.) But this was not the only benefit which the Bill
would confer upon the suitor in respect of the fee sys-
tem. The suitors fund, which consisted of two parts,
amounted to something like four millions sterling,
which stood invested in Consols in the name of the
Accountant-General, and which produced an income of
112,0001. Out of this latter sum the various officers
of the Court of Chancery were paid, including
the Lord Chancellor 6,0001., the two Lords
Justices 12,0001,, and the two Vice-Chancellors
10,0001., making a total of 28 000/. a year.
Now it was obvious that the support of these latter
officers ought to be borne by the Consolidated Fund. It
was unjust to call upon the suitors to pay them; as
well, indeed, might they call upon the tradesman who
was robbed in the streets to contribute fees for the main-
tenance of the judge who tried the robber, and it was
therefore proposed that, at some future period, the pat -
meat of the salaries of these judges in Chancery should
be thrown upon the Consolidated Fund.—(Hear. hear.)
The administrative part of the Court of Chancery
would then only be left to be provided for in
the payment of salaries to officers, but as this
branch of the machinery was only used for the benefit
of the suitors who put ie. in motion, such as in the ad-
ministration of trusts, there could be no possible objec-
tion to calling upon the suitor to pay for it.—(Hear,
hear.) Another grievance which the suitor complained
of, was the office copy system. Formerly they
were compelled to pay Is. 4d. per folio for office copies,
but a year or two ago the fee was reduced to 4d., which
produced a saving to the suitor of no less than 28,0001.
It was now proposed to go further, and by the Bill the
office copy system, as well as some portions of the fee
system, would be abolished altogether.—(Hear.) By the
present Bill a number of offices now existing would
he abolished; for instance, the Lord Chancellor had six
secretaries; of these, the first was his private secretary,
whom, of course, it was not intended to disturb; then
there was the secretary of injunctions, with a salary of
50/. a-year, which it was proposed to abolish; the secre-
tary of presentations, and the secretary to the commis-
, diens of the Peace, now both filled, would be united in
one gentleman at the first opportunity. The secretary
of lunatics, the registrar in lunacy, the secretary of bank-
, rupts, and the chief registrar in bankruptcy, would be
united in one officer, making a saving of 1,2001. a
year. The three offices of chaff-wax, sealer, and clerk
of the patents officer., whose salaries amounted to 1,8001
a year, would be entirely abolished. Of the two gentle-
teen of the chamber attached to the Lord Chancellor
only one would be retained, and that gentleman's salary
would be reduced from 700/. to 5001., a SUM
which he (the Solicitor-General) knew personally
would be not more than adequate for the
valuable services which that gentleman rendered to the
Lord Chancellor. The clerk of the affidavits would be
abolished, and in fact the whole affidavit-office done
away with altogether. The Hon. and Learned Gentle-
man then went into a &Nil of the salaries of
the several subordinate officers,
showing that there
would be a saving of about 7,000/. a year. The Ac-
e tuntant-General of tint C urt of Chancery was paid
in a manner which was Lot altogether satisfactory. His
salary was 1,5001., 4001. of which was paid to him as a
Master in Chancery, and the rest as Accountant in
Chancery. But, beside& that emolument, the Accountant.
General, by an arrangement with the broker of the
Court of Chancery, received three-fifths of the whole
brokerage charged to suitors in the various transactions
which took place in stock, the broker himself receiving
two-fifths. That system had existed for hundreds of
years. From that source the Accountant-General
received about 3,700/. .a-year, making his annual
salary altogether upwards of '5,200/. By this, with
the other changes which were proposed, he hoped to
realise a saving of at least 100,000/. a year. The conse-
quence was that the suitors would have to pay no more
than was absolutely necessary for the security of
their own cause.—(Elear, hear.) The money paid into
the Court of Chancery, in fact, would be neither more nor
less than a payment into the hands of their own bankers.
The 'truth was that the Accountant-General paid the
whole of the money into the Bank of England, and a
cheque drawn upon the Acoountant-General was equal
in value to any cheque drawn upon' the Bank of
England.—(Hear, hear.) It was proposed then that the
.ees of the inferior offices and the duties of the officers
themselves should be abolished.—(Hear, hear.) The
object was to do away with the system of tees altogether
and to pay the several officers by salaries.—(Hear.) They
found that the clerks of the court could not be dispensed
with, and they, therefore, proposed to retain them.
But in this case, as well as in the one to which he had
just alluded, the same evil existed, and the object of the
Bill was to give the Lord Chancellor the power of fixing
those salaries. In order to show the evil, however, he
would cite two instances. The first was that of a
young man who was the clerk to a solicitor, and had to
petition the court in a case of lunacy. That
young man had saved 8001., and the costs which
he had to incur rose to the sum of 2661,
of which no lees than 551. were spent in the fees of
court. The other was that of a lady's maid, who had
saved 8001, of which more than one-fourth had to be
expended in even putting the affairs into train.
Now he thought he had ate ed the principal features of
this Bill; there were other minor details, but these would
be seen e hem the Bill was printed, and came to be rel.,' d
t,a Cominiit.e.—( Hear, hear.) O. igindly this Bill con-
tains I clan-es for the abolition of the Master's effiee,
but they hid been Liken out, and he need n,it
del .y the H ,use with them.—(H ar.) A report
from the Ohancer,t Cogimis.ion had been laid on the
table lecommending considerable modification in
the '.laster':, offices, and in fact the trees-
enee of the duties performed by the trus-
tees to the judge* of each court. If that
recommendation should be hereafter ad spied, there
would no Luger be any necessity for the office of
Master in Chancery, and it was therefore proposed to
embody the recommendation of the Commissioners
in a Blll.—(Herr, hear.) This Bill would
save the suitor's something like 60,0001. or 80,0001.,
and when the other measures to which he had referred
should be adopted, justice would be administered
in the Court of Chancery not only cheaply but expedi-
tiously.—(Cheers.) Ile concluded by moving for leave
to bring in a Bill.—(Hear.)
Leave was accordingly given.
METROPOLITAN WATER SUPPLY.
Lord SEYMOUR moved for leave to bring a Bill
for the better supply of water in the metropolis.
The large amount of public and private
interest involved in this subject made it im-
portant that the Bill should be introduced
at this early period, and as the House had
been well supplied with evidence upon this matter
for some years past, it was not unreasonable to
suppose that the House ought this session
to be able to make up its mind upon the question.
He imagined that the results which the House was de-
sirous of obtaining were these, viz., that the metropolis
should be supplied with water of good quality of suffi-
cient quantity, and at a reasonable price. With regard
to the quality of the water, and the mode of its distribu-
tion, a great deal of evidence had been taken. First,
they had the report of the Board of Health; then the in-
quiry by authorised chemists on the quality of the water;
and lastly, a laborious inquiry into the great amount of
the revenues produced. He thought upon the question
of the rates and charges, and modes of assessment,
scarcely sufficient evidence had, as yet, been obtained.
He would first deal with the sources of supply. It
was quite right, to say what sources should be prohi-
bited. They should not allow water to be brought
from sources that were objectionable. They had evi-
dence that the Thames, within tidal influence, was per-
nicious. He believed that the Lambeth Water Company
was the only one that had abandoned this source for its
supply. But the London, West Middlesex, Grand June-
tian, Chelsea, and Vauxhall Water Companies, would be
affected by this Bill. He thought that power must be
given to Government to appoint en inspector, so that be-
tore water is taken from any source, the inspector shall
make his report, and the Government shall have power to
prohibit a supply from such quarter. As to the quality of
the water, a great many reports had beee received, some of
them recommending that certain water should be pro-
hibited because it was hard; others saying that other water
should be adopted, because it was soft. He was not pre-
pared to say that the qualities of soft or hard water
were in themselves sufficient reasons for prohibiting it.
He thought that the Thames water above any tidal in-
fluence was a very good source from which a supply
could be obtained. The New River, too, would afford
excellent sources of supply. He was of opinion that it
was unnecessary for Parliament to interfere further than
that point, and that it would be unwise to do so. It
would be unwise on the one hand to adopt the recom-
mendation of the Board of Health, and to go solely to
the sands of Surrey for supply. Let all sources be al-
lowed, so that care was taken that from whatever quarter
water was .procured they should have an assurance of its
wholesome quality, and, if necessary, a filtering reser-
voir. He thought there was another point to be at-
tended to, that when the majority of the inhabitants of
any street required a constant supply, that constant
supply should be afforded. That could be done without
any great difficulty. If the existing companies should
continue the supply they ought to be prepared to accede
to this demand. The great difficulty was in duffing with
the houses of the poor. All houses rated under the
value of 101. should be supplied with water at a fixed
rate. When ho compared the charges of housee under
101. value in the metropolis with those of other town',
he was induced to think that the rates in the former
were very high. It would be necessary to examine
the rates citarged upon such houses in
a Select Committee, other
tows in considericg the rates that ought to be charged
for those houses in the metropolis. The Bill being of that
character which would render it necessary to refer it to
should be charged fir houses. Under the Bill it
way as they might would b mess
e necessary for many of the companies to come
he had not entered any sum as
to &the House for new Acts in order to comply with the
terms of the enactment. It would be for the House then
to review their rates and to arrange them in such a
Consider just.
The great question
was, what the management and direction of the water
supply ought to be? He did not propose to exclude
private enterprise fromsupply this of water. The Board
of Health recommended a Gorerromeat Commis,sien and
Parliamentary responaibility. He did not think such a
commission would give satisfaction to that House. Then
the Bill of last year recommended the fusion of the dif-
ferent companies. He believed it would be much better
to letave the companies to act separately according as
they found it conducive to their own interest. Another I
proposal was, that the management should be left to the
municipal corporations. In the first place, there
Was no municipal corporation in this Own Tali"