The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

Mr. Acland—The Court of Hustingi I believe to be an ob-
solete court. The form of opening it is gone through it is
true, but no actual business is done in it. The Sheriffs'
Court is very different from what it once was. When the
County Courts Act was introduced, the city of London op.
posed, and successfully opposed,. the inclusion of the City
within its provisions. Afterwards, however, public
opinion became so strong, that the corporation was com-
pelled to apply for the extension of the county-court sys-
tem to the City. That change has been effected, and the
results have been most beneficial. The officers and clerks'
committee have the management of this court, and they
have a surplus of 1,0001. They havezecolpauvuded Jame',
rrecluctions in the scale of fees of that court, and it is be-
lieved that, even after these immense reductions, there
will still be a surplus. The Lord Mayor's Court is a
court against which there are many complaints with
reference to foreign attachments. Foreigners complain
that the procedure of this court is tyrannical and oppres
sive. I think the judges of these courts should be chosen
by the Crown. I now come to the criminal courts ; and
first, as a preliminary, I take the magisterial courts. The
aldermen are generally unlearned in the law, and de-
pendent upon their clerks for legal direction. Their com-
mercial pursuits disqualify them for the exercise of judicial
functions. -I should recommend that the magistrates of
the City should be barristers of sufficient standing ; and
all magistrates, in my opinion, ought to be appointed
under the responsibility of the Government, and not by
those between whom they have to administer justice. I
think the judicial and magisterial officers of the City
should be appointed by the Crown and paid by the corpo-
ration. The Recorder of the City is appointed by the
Court of Aldermen. Ido not think the administration of
justice has suffered in consequence of this mode of appoint-
ing the Recorder. Great credit is due to the Court of
Aldermen for having selected for the office of• Recorder a
gentleman so talented, and of such high character, as Mr.
Stuart Wortley, whom they elected without solicitation,
although he was opposed to them in politics. At the same
time, I should prefer that the Recorder should be chosen
by the Crown, because I am opposed to making the city
of London an exception to the system which prevails
in the rest of the country. The name of alderman
would always be a term of ridicule in the city of London. I
don't, however, object to the name of alderman in Liver-
pool or. Xanchester. With regard to the Central Criminal
Court, three distinct courts sit at the same time at the Old
Bailey, and in the second and third courts the aldermen
sit on the bench. I do not know whether the aldermen
alit in the first court, at which the judges of the land pre-
side. I do not think that the aldermen ought to sit on the
bench when their own commitments have to be tried. The
system of letting out the galleries of these courts to the
public during the trials is highly objectionable, and very
high fees, amounting in cases where great criminals aro
tried for their lives, sometimes to 11., are charged for
places, in the same manner as if the court were a theatre,
and a market is thus made of the prurient curiosity of the
public. The Lord Mayor and the sheriffs profit by these
fees, which first go into the pocket of the door keeper, but
he has to pay a rent for, the right to charge the public for
seats. I know that the present Recorder is strongly opposed
to this system of letting out the seats. The corporation by
its officers makes out the jury panels, and members of the
Common Council often attend the courts in Guildhall to
be selected for the special juries, and receive a guinea per
day each for their services. The witness then gave evidence
on the matter of the privileged companies of the City, and
stated it as his opinion that their restrictions operated in-
juriously on trade and employment. The present division
of the wards cannot be maintained, and I think it' would
be better that there should be no ward division at all, as
they encourage party feelings and local jealousies and pre-
judices. Charities are sometimes left to particular wards,
and sometimes to particular parishes, and great inconve-
nience arises in dispensing these charities, from the limits
of the parishes and the wards not being conterminous.
The Chairman—We will pass now to the question of the
police.

Mr. Acland—l think the City police force is well
managed. The Chief Commissioner of Police is appointed
by the corporation, but they do not much interfere with
his management. At the same time I consider the control
and direction of the police of the metropolis ought to be in
the hands of the Government. The City police ought to
be merged in the general system of metropolitan police ;
and the whole ought to be homogeneous in its components.
The city of London requires a greater number in propor-
tion to its magnitude than the rest of the metropolis, be-
cause there are a large number of warehouses in the City
which are left without anybody to watch them but the
police during the greater portion of the 24 hours of the
day. I now 'come to the port of London, and its trade.
It is of the highest importance, in my opinion, to the com-
mercial interests of the port that the corporation should
not remain the conservators of the Thames. The ancient
charters enable the corporation to impose so many vexa-
tious restrictions and charges upon imports, that it is
highly desirable that those charters should be abrogated,
and the commerce of the port set free. The sum of
9,5001. charged for metage on corn imported (to which I
alluded the other day) is nothing like the amount of duty
annually exacted. The accounts of the corporation on
this subject are utterly incomprehensible, and there are
many imposts exacted by fruit meters, and a host of innu-
merable vampires who fatten upon the commerce of the
port, which are in no way exhibited in the accounts. With
respect to the privileged brokers of the City, the effect of
the corporation licensing provision brokers and stock
brokers, is to give a fictitious position to a man who gives
no sufficient security to the public against his malpractices.
With respect to the several markets of the City, some
are the private property of the corporation, and others
are not. Those markets which really belong to them
yield them a legitimate revenue ; but I submit that under
the Act 9 and 10 Vic., c. 346, the object of which
is to repeal and alter the several acts relating to Billings-
gate-market, the corporation have no power to levy
any tolls except upon carts and ships bringing fish into
that market. Nevertheless, the corporation illegally
exacts 201. each from the 60 licensed fishmongers of Bil-
lingsgate.

The Chairman—Has the question never been tried in a
court of law ?

Mr. Acland— No body of private individuals would go to
law with the corporation of London. In appearing here
as a volunteer witness, I bell the cat, and take the bull by
the horns. It would be worse to opposo them in a court of
law.

Mr. Cornewall Lewis—The trading privileges in the
city of London are very numerous and very various, are
they not?
Mr. Acland—They are.
Mr. C. Lewis—Do you know of any one of those privi-
leges which you think it would be desirable to retain ?
Mr. Acland—Not one. An exclusive trade privilege is
always an injustice, and benefits the few to the injury of
the many. • _ .. . _ _

The Chairman—ls there any other point to which you
desire to call the attention of the commissioners ?

Mr. Acland—l wish to make a statement with regard to
the elections at Common Hall. I alluded at the last sitting
of the commissioners to the contest which took place in
1846, between Alderman Carroll and Alderman Thomas
Wood, when great corruption prevailed. The greater pro-
portion of the bribery on that occasion took place on the
side of Alderman Wood. I hold now in my hand a list of
the names of persons who received bribes in Alderman
Wood's interest. These persons should have been all
liverymen ; and, assuming that they were so, I have
ascertained the names of those who were still on the
livery-list of the parliamentary register. I have drawn
up this document for this reason, that if it should be the
desire of the commissioners to receive further evidence
of the extent of the corruption which is practised at
these elections, you will have the names (together with the
companies to which the parties belong) of hundreds of
liverymen who, on the occasion I have stated, received
bribes and polled on the days specified on the list. I also
hold in my hand evidence with reference to the election of
Alderman Brown, in 1844, to the office of chamberlain.
Bribery is usual on all these occasions; but I happen to
have in my possession the originals of the receipts of some
eleven or twelve of the parties who were actively engaged
at Alderman Brown's election ; and as seven out of these
eleven persons are still in existence, the commissioners
have it in their power to call upon them to give evidence
before this inquiry.
The Chairman—Do you mean that these are persons who
received sums of money for their votes ?
Mr. Acland—They received bribes in the shape of at-
tendance money, at the rate of 10s. per day.
Mr. Cornewall Lewis—They were a kind of sub-agents,
were they not ?
Mr. Acland—They were " sub-sub-agents" rather. The
system is one of notorious and extensive bribery, and if the
commissioners have any doubt as to how the liverymen
elect the corporate officers, I say here are the means of
testing the matter by original documents. Mr. Acland