The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-13 00:00:00

ea.tse for imposing a passing-toll before he agreed to the

st.cond reading,

The. HON. MEMBER said there w

no such clause.

Mr. BELL :vas opposed to some of the cla.,se3 oF the
Bill, but tvould not oppose the second reading, in the hope
that it %%mild be altered in Committee.

Mr. VILLIERS presented a petition from Ellesmere, in
S!:rol,shira, in favour of the abolition or Church-rates.
Mr. MULLINS prr'sented a petition from the owners
of shares in the Agricultural 13.mk of Irelatvi, against the
destruction of that establishment.

• Mr. WALTER presented petitions from the operative
cot tco-spinners, iron-fOunders, and weavers of Manclic;ter,
in favour of the Bill for the reduction of the hours
of labour of children in factories ; also a petition front
Allidenhead for the better observance of the Sabbath.
Also petitions from the Suffolk Union, and from Derby,
si.oled by 4,003 persons," in favour of an alteration in the
Poor-laws.

Mr. WILKS presented petitions from parishes in the
n,:ighbourhood of Boston in favour of the Ministerial plan for
the abolition of Chureb•rates.
MEDICAL MONOPOLY.

Mr. WARBURTON presented the following petition
from Mr. Stevenson, a surgeon of the city of Limerick.

TO TIIE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND HONOURABLE, THE KNIGHTS,
CITIZENS, AND BURGESSES, IN TIIE COMMONS HOUSE OF

PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED,

The Petition of the undersigned, John Stevenson,
Surgeon, &e., of the City of Limerick,
HUMBLY SHENVETII :

That your petitioner, in the year 1834, addressed a petition
to your Honourable House, praying an alteration in the Act of
Parliament which regulates the profession of apothecary in this
country.

Your petitioner then submitted to the wisdom and justice of
your Honourable House, the impolicy of permitting a law,
enacted in the Irish Parliament nearly half a century ago—
obviously with a view to founding and protecting a monopoly
—to remain any longer a stain upon the Statute-book.
Petitioner humbly complains of this monstrous and absurd
law, as investing the Apothecaries' Company of Dublin with
a power which they exercise in the worst and most exclusive
spirit—that of prohibiting any apothecary, simply because he
has qualified himself for the duties of his profession in Eng-
land or Scotland, and not in Ireland (although his eligibility
be certified by the Colleges of the Sister Countries), from
compounding medicine, or practising in his profession in this
part of the kingdom, unless he again serve his apprenticeship
to an Irish apothecary, for a period of seven years, and be
admitted a licentiate of the Dublin Hall.

Petitioner submits that this Act was conceived in a jealous
and anti-British feeling, and that it was passed at a time when
the Irish Parliament could not have contemplated the present
vast intercourse between the three nations ; their great inter-
change of inhabitants; the intermixture of all denominations
of the British people with each other ; their identity of inte-
rests ; and the liberal spirit in which all British institutions
are now governed.
He further submits, that the jurisdiction and
,control thus
given to an illiberal and despotic Board in Dublin, influenced
by narrow and selfish views, discourages the settlement in Ire-
land of men of science and high practical attainments, and of
experience and enterprise, commanding capital, and desirous
of conducting business upon improved systems beneficial to the
public. And that such control is degrading and intolerable to
English and Scotch apothecaries, who, your petitioner is per-
suaded, are willing to unite in rendering the profession an
enlightened and scientific body without any National distinc-
tions.

With great humility, your petitioner prays leave to state,
that he has been practising the art of apothecary during a pe-
riod of twenty-four years, and has gone through the entire cur-
riculum of studies required for a surgical diploma—which di.
ploma he received from the Faculty of Physicians and Sur-
geons of Glasgow, thereby qualifying him to practice surgery
and pharmacy.
That, on the faith of this legal qualification, as well as
long practical experience, petitioner embarked in the year
1831, a very large capital in the establishment of a medical
concern in the city of Limerick—and that he has since been
much impeded by the members of the Apothecaries' Hall,
who have not only refused to recognise his qualification, or
even to allow him an examination at their Hall, unless peti-
tioner commence his profession anew, and subject himself to
an apprenticeship of seven years with a licentiate of their own
Corporation ; but have lately oppressed him by an expensive
and most vexatious prosecution, notwithstanding the candid
and honourable admission officially made to your petitioner, in
1834, by the then Governor of the Apothecaries' Hall, that
legal proceedings, should they be taken against your peti-
tioner, would be " extremely oppressive."
Your petitioner was examined during the Session of 1834,
by the Medical Committee appointed by your Honourable
House ; and from the deep sympathy then felt in petitioner's
case, and the strong condemnatory feeling expressed by many
individual Members of the Hon. House, as well as the severe
animadversions of the Public Press upon the exclusive privi-
leges of the Dublin Hall, the Directors thereof were disarmed,
and the law proceedings at that time threatened against your
petitioner, were for a while abandoned. But, in May last,
the said Directors, emboldened by the non-intervention of the
Legislature, instituted an action at law against petitioner,
which, under the advice of two of his Majesty's most eminent
Counsel at the Irish Bar, your petitioner was induced to com-
promise at a very grievous expense, submitting to the exaction
of a pecuniary penalty, and payment of law costs.
Your petitioner prays leave to state, that notwith;tanding
these proceedings. he is still at the mercy of the Hall in Dub-
lin ; and may be again and again plunged into similar morti-
fying litigation, until he is either utterly ruined, or compelled
to sacrifice his property in Ireland, and leave the country.
Your petitioner most humbly " submits, how contrary it is to
the enlightened spirit of the times, and how much at variance
with the cordial feeling now happily subsisting in the family
of the British Empire, not only that a power should be per-
mitted to reside in such a Board as that of Dublin, but that
men of a liberal profession should be found to exercise it as
they do, particularly against your petitioner, whose qualifica-
tions they, at the same time, cannot but acknowledge to be at
least equal to their own.
Your petitioner, in proof of the extreme hardship and se-
verity with which he has been treated by the r9jection of his
claims, begs to lay before your Honourable House copies of
the correspondence and other documents, connected with his
application to the Governor and Directors of the Apothecaries'
Hall of Ireland.

Your petitioner persuades himself, that your Honourable
House will take into its most serious consideration the grie-
vance herein complained of, and cause to be altered, amended,
or repealed, so much of the Apothecaries' Act of Ireland as
will compel that body to recognise the diplomas or certified
qualifications emanating from any of the colleges or cori,orate
bodies of Great Britain. And further, that all persons sere.
ing a regular apprenticeship to a duly-qualified apothecary,
(no matter from what body he may hold his licence) shall be
entitled to the same privileges and advantages as if said ap-
prenticeship had been served with a Licentiate of the Apothe-
caries' Hall of Ireland.

And your petitioner will ever pray,
JOHN STEVENSON,
Licentiate of the niculty of Physicians and Surgeons of
Medical Hall, George-street, Limerick, April 20,
The lion. Member considered that the complaints con-
tained in the petition were well worthy the consideration of
the House, anti he trusted would meet with that attention
which they deserved.

Mt.. WILLIAM ROCHE bore testimony to the re-
spectability :and worth of the pcitiom.r, who had settled
in Limerick, and ccriferred great hefiefit upon the city, by
the establisbumnt of a Medical Hall. He thought that
now these kingdoms were incorporated, it was monstrous
that there should be any laws that would. interfere with
these indivithml interests. Nothing could be more unwise
than they? auti-national laws.