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

hear.) There were 90 officers in the Court of Chancery,
but of these 90 officers only 40 ratified the amounts they
received by affidavit, and it was new propssed 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
nicety 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. Oat 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 28,0001. 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 pay-
ment 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 it 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
ne 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-
sions 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, makinz a saving of 1,200/. a
year. The three offices of chaff- vax, sealer, and clerk
of the patents officert, whose salaries amounted to 1,8001.
a year, would be entirely abolished. Of the two gentle-
men 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 detail of the salaries of
the several subordinate officers, showing that there
would be a saving of about 7,0001. a year. The Ac-
countant-General of de Court of Chancery was paid
in a manner which was not 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, besides that emolument, the Accountant..
General, by au 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 5,2001. By thin, 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
man was absolutely necessary far the security of
their own cause.—(Hear, hear.) The money paid into
the Court of Chancery, in fact, would be neither more nor
loss 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 Accountant-General was equal
in value to any cheque drawn upon the Bank of
England.—(Hear, hear.) It was proposed then that the
fees 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 severalofficers 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
tic 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 stated the principal features of
this Bill; there were other minor details, but these would
be seen when the Bill was printed, and came to be referred
to a Committee.—(Hear, hear.) Originally this Bill con-
tained clauses for the abolition of the Master's office,
but they had been taken out, and he need not
delay the House with them.--(Hear.) A report
from the Chancery Commission had been laid on the
table recommending considerable modification in
the Master's offices, and in fact the trans-
ference of the duties performed by the trus-
tees to the judges of each court. If that
recommendation should be hereafter adopted, there
would no longer be any necessity for the office of
Master in Chancery, and it was therefore proposed to
embody the recommendation of the Commissioners
in a Bill.—( Hear, hear.) This Bill would
save the suitor's something like 60,000/. 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-
in a Bill.—(fleas,)
Leave
tiously.—(Cheers.) Be concluded by moving for leave
to bring
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.
Ho 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. Ho 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 toGovernment to appoint an 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
he water, a great many reports bad been received, some of
them recommending that certain water should be pro-
hibited because it wes bard; others sayinrr that other water
should be adopted, because it was soft. the 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
excellect sources of supply. lie was of opinion that it
was unnecessary for Parliament to interfere further than
that point, and that it would be unwise to do ao. 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,
reser-
voir. He thought there was another point to bo at-
tsnded to, that when the majority of, the inhabitants of
required a constant supply, any street a filtering
y, 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 dealing with
the houses of the poor. All houses rated under the
value of 10/. should be supplied with water at a fixed
rive. When he compared the charges of houses under
10!. value in the metropolis with those of other towns,
be was induced to think that the rates in the former
were very high. It would be necessary to examine
the rates charged upon such houses in other
towns in considering the rates that ought to be charged
for those houses in ho metropolis. The Bill being of that
character which would render it necessary to refer it to
a Select Committee, he had not entered any sum as
should be charged for these houses. Under the Bill it
mayas the
Would be necessary for many of the companies to come
to the House for new Acts in order to comply with the
tArnas of the enactment. It would bo for the House then
C and to arrange them in such a
consider just. e
eHee
to, v review their rates,
Th great question
Was, what heightmanagement and direction of the water
supply ought to bet
private enterprise from this s pl of water. The Board
of Health recommended a Government Commission and
Parliamentary responsibility. He did not think such a
commission would give Y•
did not propose to exclude
satisfaction to that House. Then
the Bill of last year recommended the fusion of the clif-
f, rent companies. He believed it would be much better
to leevo the companies to act separately according as
they found it conducive to their own interest. Another
proposal was, that the
al corporations. In the first place, there
'management should be left to the
municipal corporat;ioa this town quali-
wmausnicniop