The Sun.
London, England, 1830-06-12 00:00:00

them, as some of them Were connected with othti depart-'
ments. Tith respect to the pensions, those payable by
the-agent colony did nit exceed 1',4001. The
Right Hon:: Gentlemin • then -read- the noses •of Mrs.
Wrig!,t, l‘fra. Thoioron, and other widows. to whom
tie se pension,, cori•Stii uting that sutra, were payable ; and
the pension of :70/ a year to one of them was given at the
instance of ti e Hun. Member himself (Mr. flume).,
'There Was 4007. paid as a•pensien to the widow of Go--
Vernor MacqUarry—that now ceased, and, therefore, the
pensions '•ho* 'paid by the agent were altogether only
1,01 The Right Hon. Gentleman, in justification of
the expense of the colony, enumerated the different pti!ilic
establishm.'nts necessary to be kept up-for so large a popu-:
lotion, scattered•over so wide a country. The expense
necessatily increased with the addition, from time to time
of a number of convicts. As to' the imputation of job-,
bing cast upon the -Governor, • that he denied.- There,
were only three gentlemen in the colony connected•witk
the Governor. Two of them were his brothers-in-law,i
one of whom was private secretary to the Governor ; the
other had no office. He would be glad of an inquiry intot.
the expenditure as proposed. •Several reductions were,
made in it; and more were under his consideration.
Mr. O'CONNELL observed that no answer was made.
to his Hon. Friend's complaints of the ex-officio informa-,
tions. No :less than eleven of them were issued aga;nst
the - couductors .of newspapers in that colony. One of
these was •for a paragraph which was considered a libel;
but whielywas,no more than a J.imple complaint of the
manner in•which the writer was•treated by the Governor
and his military Jury; yet he was found guilty by that
Jury of the second libel, and sentenced to twelve months'
urprisoninent. • •
Sir GEORGE MURRAY - had as great respect as any
one for the liberty of. the Press ; but, front the observa-
tions made by the Court and Counsel,. he inferred that the

:el was of an aggravated character.
After a words from Mr. O'CoNNELL, Mr. JEPHSO24,

Mr. 11(511E, and Sir G. MURRAY, the vote was agreed to.
Mr. G. DAWSON proposed a vote of 9,0001. to pay,
1880, the fees due to the clerks and officers of the
I louse upon the passing of Turnpike. rozal Bills. —Agreed to.
LAW COMMISSION.

The .next resolution moved was for a sum of 16,6001.
to defray the salaries and expences of the Commistioners
appointed:to inquire into the superior Courts e Common
Law, and into.the Writs relating to real property, for the
ye tr ltt2o.
111 r. HUME wished to know, if thirteen Commis-
sioners were appointed why the estimates were only for
ten. He had looked into the first report, and found it to
contain a good deal of ordinary appendix. The-subject,
Lowever, - was one which he did not profess .to know
much about.

Sir R. PEEL said that in the first instaneo :only ten
Commissioners bad been appointed, but three were sub-
sequently added.
Mr. HUME was opposed to the vote altogether, and
one main ground of his opposition was that the best per-
suns were withheld. He should like to know how it was
that the names of Mr. Butler and Mr. Humphreys were
left out ?
Sir R. PEEL said that the learned persons selected
were as eminent as any in the whole range of the profes-
sion. As' tb Mr. Humphreys, the reason why he was
withheld was because he had previously pledged himself to
certain strong opinions in a work which be had published
on an important branch of the inquiry.
Mr. HOI3HOUSE considered that Mr. Humphreys
had written the best, book that could be produced on the
.subject, and that fact alone ought rather to qualify than
disqualify him for the appointment.
Sir M. W. RIDLEY had so high an opinion of the
talents of Mt. Humphreys, that be very much wished to
see him appointed sole Commissioner.
Mr. BROUGHAM was ready to admit, to the fullest
extent, the merits and talents of Mr. Humphreys, know-
ing them to be of the very first order ; and he at the same
time much regretted that the name of that gentleman was
not included in the commission; but still these considera-
tions could not blind him to the extreme merit of the
commission, constituted as it was. The gentlemen com-
posing it were distinguished for great knowledge, perse-
verance, and ability, and, in prof of the strict attention
they paid to the duties that devolved upon them, it was
only necessary for him to state a fact which had come
within his own knowledge—namely, that they had eat on
one particular day for eleven hours successively, fur pur-
poses connected with inquiry. The first report related to
the law of real property, and was in his opinion an in-
valuablr production. The subject itself was one, compared
with which all other matters sunk.into comparative insig-
. nilicanee.. The second report was still under considerii-
tion, and referred to, the registration of deeds—a subject
also of great public interest, not only in Yorkshire and
other parts of England, where the system was imperfect,
but also in Ireland, where it was more regular. The first
report was the one adverted to by his Rom' Friend the
Member for Aberdeen, who had proved that which it was

quite unnecessary for him to prove—namely, that he knew
nothing whatever about `it.—(A . laugh. )—lle (Mr.
Brougham) contended that the Commissioners had gone
to work with the firm determination of effecting real prac-

tical reforms, and hitherto they had most ably and honour.
ably acquitted themselves.—(Hear, hear.)—With respect
to the report of the Commissioners of. continua law, all
he could say was, that never let had public money
been betterbestowed than where the few thousand pounds
which this production cost. A more learned, sound,
or useful report, upon an arduous and complicated sub-
ject, -he had never yet seen. 'The expeuce of Com-
missions altogether was 50,0001., a sum not exclusively
confined to law inquiry, hut including matters of every
description whatever. One notable Scotch Canal Com-
mission had swallowed up more money than all the other
Commissions put together, front 1807 down to a very re-
cent per iod—and, had it not been fur the fortunate disco •
very of steam navigation, the chances were, that the
whole, of the money would have gone to the bottom of the
canal. The. Cemmission - now before the House, be it
always borne in mind, cost the country only the one hun-
dred and seventieth part of the expenses of the last year of
the last war ; and he earnestly wished that all public, mo-
ney were applied to so good a purpose as that fur which
the present vote was brought forward; He must, how-
ever, observe, that there ought to-be a certain fixed period
within which the labours of all Commissions ought to ter-
. minete,. for, there was in such bodies a principle tending
to perpetuate their. own existence. He agreed with the
Right Hon. Gentleman opposite, and, indeed, he had him-
, self particular reason to know the fact, that the gentle-
men who were named upon the Commission had accepted
theerffiee very unwillingly, and would have been very.
glad to hive excusurthemselves. What gain could It be
to his friend Mr. Campbell, for-instance, a gentleman at
the head of his professkon, to receive, what to others might
perhaps be a desirable salary, but which to hint was no-
thing:.—for a duty which took up so tych of his time and
attention. He knew that Mr. Campbell would have pre-
ferred that the duty had been an honorary one, but, as
some gentlemen not equal to hint in eminence—convey,
aneers and othere, were placed upon the Commissicm, to
wi.om it was necessary to give some compensation for the
sacrifice of their business, of course it Was impossible to
make a distinction, or for. one gentleman to say that he
was above receiving what was given to others. , -
Sir CHARLES WETHERELL had the highest respect
for the learning and talent of thegentlemea.who *lmposed
the commission, and was glad to pronouune an eulogy upon
them; but, at the same time, be begged leave to say that
he would not -he boutid-by their decision,-but would reserve,
his own jodgment, whether or not he should adopt their
report. Ile hod an opportunity of knowing that many
the JtOges did not concur in some of the propositie,he re-
lating to the tommon law ; anti as to the suggestions of the
real' property comutiseion, there were many of them to
which he should feel bound to give an earnest opposition.
(Questionse should be glad to ask the Hon. Gentle-
man who-called' t‘ Question V' ..whether he was the owner
of freehold property/. and if le were, he would tell him
that he would he ofiligel to make a public registry of every
single instruments oraet relating to his estate.—(A laugh.)
-Mr. Q'QQNNELL said that in Ireland the system of re-1
gistry had been in practice for a century, and it.'svorked
extremely well.. . . .
Mr. C. WOOD bore testimony to the efficacy of re-
gistration in Yorkshire, in preventing frauds.
Sir C. WETHERELL said that the Yorkshire registry
was condemned as an ineffectual mode of carrying the pi o-
posed object.
Mr. BROUGHAM said that, if the system of registry
was not perfect, it was because it -did not go far enough ;
and it was quite a logical argument to say that, if even a
bad system had produced great good, much more might be
expected from an improved one.
, Sir C. WETHERELL rose ag_in, hut
Mr. TRANT said that the public business could not go
on if gentlemen indulged in oonstant repeutionof irrele-:
cant matter, or; as his Hon. Friend the Member for Aber;.
deen would say, rigmarole. - -
'The resolution Was then agreed to.
'The next vote was 3,0401. for the expenses of the civil
.establishment at the' Bah ona. islands for 1830.
• " Mr. W. HORTOi,I. complained 4 the state of ignorance
itf,which the House was left with re-poet to the state of
*lie' Colonies; while there were ample means of laying
!refore the. House full information as to their expenditure
end revenue. With respect to the quest'on whether the
Colonies ought to take upon themselves to support the