The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-03 00:00:00

FPRIcE SD.

L that I may fit out a vessel which may bring a cargo of coals
1' from the north and convey it all the way to my wharf at
• Isleworth and nobody can say nay, but I cannot navigate
) a barge from the port of London by my own men. 'So long
L as the journey of a barge begins below the jurisdiction of
) the City, the City watermen have no exclusive right to
navigate her. Any body like the corporation might dis-
charge the duties of the conservancy if they appoint3d the
i proper officers and required them to do what was neces-
t sari, ; but I think the navigation committee of the ccapo-
; ration, as composed of its present members, can hardly be
suitable for the exercise of such functions, e.s they cannot
) be acqu inted with the circumstances pf the ri'i er. The
• absurdity of the City's claim to allow none bnt privileged
watermcn to navigate barges on the Thames is further
illustrated by this fact, that I might have a son apprenticed
as a waterman without his ever appearing on the river,
and he would be permitted to act without undergoing any
examination whatever as to his efficiency. I think the
Government can impress a certain number of watermen
for the service of the royal navy, and upon that I believe
the watermen found their claim.
_Mr. W. Edmund Hickson was then recalled, and his evi-
dence resumed from Wednesday last. He said that he
RtchoesnaftoirmbdeerwoAhcoutwloafthslue:vesxissshtting
would new state to the commissioners his general view of
the remedial measures which he would apply to the munici-
pal government of the city of London. He would not
overcome by gradual and
occupy the ti Ile of the commission with any theory which
v-fe Loudon, which had
might be applicable to a new state of society, but rather
o wasud
bt
oh the
p p li introductionedtransition,to
othef citytoh involving
t choo efu
Hcipelwe oouf
idfrei3erotporadsee
tihnat; thtPr°gresalheelc4itthy
evils might be most effectually
no sudden or violent change. The first practical measure
been applied pretty extensively to the rest e ry
clause of the Municipal
don,Lon-
thereby abolishing every exclusive right to
ractise
any trade or employment within its ; and) if the
commissioners should not be prepared to go any further in
the next session thin merely to recommend the introduc-
tion of a short bill into Parliament embodying thin single
clause, he considered that they would deserve the thanks
of the public. He would- also propese 'the-application to
the City of the first clause of the Municipal Reform Act,
which abolishes all existing charters and prescriptive
rights now held or claimed to be held by the municipal
bodies to which the act refers. This would be an impor-
tant step in the right direction, and would put an end to
all the vexatious litigation which has been going on for
many years between the corporation and the Crown with
reference to the conservancy of the river and the right to
the soil of the shore. It would also meet the case of the
fellowship porters, the watermen, the town carmen,
meters, and others. The same sort of privileges as the
Municipal Reform Act repealed were enjoyed previously
to its passing by the other corporations of the country,
but they were all abolished under the provisions of that
measure. This proposal would also deprive the City of
the conservancy of the Thames, which is not a local, but a
national concern ; and, until some better organisation is
provided, he would suggest that the conservancy should be
handed over to the Woods and Forests. He would have
the compensation granted to municipal officers whose
offices should be abolished regulated upon a liberal scale.
The City claims the right of excluding the metropolitan
police from the City side of Temple:bar, and even of prohi-
biting the Sovereign herself from passing through until the
Lord Mayor permits. This system is very inconvenient.
Under it gangs of thieves often remain in the City until
they become known to the police, when they migrate into
other districts west of the bar to practise their depreda-
tions. When they cannot stay there any longer with
safety to themselves, they return to their old quarters,
where they have, perhaps, been forgotten by the police. If
the commissioner were legislating for the whole metropolis
and creating one metropolitan municipality, he would, even
as regards the management of the police, introduce the
popular element. The City police, he thought, should be
amalgamated with that of the whole metropolis; but at
the same time he conceived that the civic authorities should
have the power of appointing a body of police or watch-
men, in addition, if it were considered necessary. The
area of the City proper is one square mile and a half in ex-
tent, for which there is a police force of 500 men ; whilst
the whole of the! rest of the metropolis which extends to
7001 square miles, has a force of only 5,600.
The Chairman—Pass to the next subject, if you please.
Mr. Hickson—The principle of the coal tax is very objec-
tionable. If a tax is imposed on coal at all, it ought to be
levied at the pit's mouth, where the article is cheapest, and,
if necessary, a drawback might be allowed on coal consumed
in London.

Mr. C. Lewis—How would a tax at the pit's mouth
benefit the city of London?
Mr. Hickson—l am not considering that. lam only
dealing with the justice of the principle of the tax. When
the food of the people has been liberated from the weight
of taxation, I think the next thing to be done would be to
establish free trade in coal also, and exempt the fuel of the
people from taxation, for it is also a necessary of life. The
machinery for levying the tax is becoming every year more
cumbrous and inefficient, and there is no proper mode of
ascertaining how much of the tax is stopped in its progress
into the public coffers. I calculate the amount of the loans
still unpaid, which are secured upon the coal tax, at
750,0001.; and a penny rate over the whole metropolis, as
a coal compensation tax, would produce 48,0001. annually,
a sum which would be sufficient to pay the interest on the
loans.

The Chairman—Pass to the next point.
Mr. Hickson—My view of municipal government is that,
as far as that government is purely local, it should be left
strictly and entirely in the hands of a local body. Lo-ial
corporations ought to have unlimited power to do as they
please with their own local rates, but should possess no
power to spend the money of other districts ; and every-
thing which the local corporations do ought to be required
to be in accordance with the common laws of the land.
The Legislature, of course, should overrule all by-laws of
independent corporations interfering with the general pub-
lic interest. If local municipalities were given to the dif-
ferent metropolitan districts, he would wish to see a central
body created, which should be clothed with the power of
overruling the sectional municipalities, so far as their de-
cisions were inconsistent with the general interest. With
regard to the sewerage of the metropolis, for instance, he
would have the arterial drainage managed by the metro-
litan commission, but the house drains and the minor de-
tails of sewerage in particular localities he would leave to the
control of the district authority. Again, with regard to
the paving, he would hand over the control of the main
arteries of the metropolis to the central board, and the
management of the side-streets and by-streets he would
give to the district. The lighting he would entrust to the
separate districts. Ho would also confer upon the new
municipal board of the City the power of electing the
beard of guardians of the poor. It was well known that
the new Poor-law Act had failed in its application to the
City, the expenses at the present moment being conside-
rably greater than they were before the City was formed
into three distinct unions. The Central Union in the City
contains ninety-eight parishes. The average annual sum
expended in the relief of the poor in the three years 1834,
1835, and 1830 (before the passing of the new Poor-law),
was 59,110/. ; the population at that time being 57,100.
In the last three years, however, viz.' 1850, 1851, and 1852
(since the passing of the above act), the annual average ex-
penditure was 88,449/., the population being only 55,908.
There are no fewer than 101 elected guardians in the City
Central Union, besides 15 ex officio; and altogether the three
City unions have about 160 guardians. This is too great
a number, and it is difficult to find enough persons of the
highest class to undertake the administration of the poor
relief system. Another function which he would give to
the new municipal council would be the consolidation of
the numerous ecclesiastical jurisdictions within the City,
which was divided into no less than 110 separate parishes.
This ho proposed in no desire to weaken or injure the
Church. On the contrary, he believed that the bishop of
the diocese would not refuse his sanction to such a mea-
sure. He would, therefore, invest the new municipal body
with the power to confer with the ecclesiastical authorities,
and, with their concurrence, to prepare for the approbation
of Parliament a bill for the consolidation of the 110 exist-
ing parishes into a reduced number of districts. He would
also invest them with power to assist, by a committee, the
new charity commissioners in their investigations, and to
prosecute, where nec: ssary, all parties committing a breach
of trust with regard to charity funds. With respect to the
mode of remodelling the municipal constituency of London
he would be inclined to copy the New Poor-law qualifica-
tion now adopted for electing boards of guardians, which
confers the franchise not only on all ratepayers, but also
upon all owners of property; admits of plurality of
votes,
and does not restrict the suffrages to residents alone.v He,
,
also preferred the system of sendingt round voting lists to be
filled up by the voters (as is done under the New Poor- 1
Act), to the system of personal attendance at the
chpaorltlei
rnegd
place. He now came to the subject of the
various
companies and corporations within the City of London.
Their private property was computed at
at 250,000/. per annum. and it was the lowest estimate
sirable that it should be legally in his opinion very de-
defined to whom that pro-
perty belongs, and by Nhom it ought to bef administered.h
The property of these companies had arisen
p orso9mde
tvanetnr very heavy
thosee vye
municipal fines which they formerly
f
fines having been invested in theurc as
companies are often composed of very di
and it was very desirable that the system of corruption
sceorodant materials;
now practised in them under the guise of eating and drink
ing and good fellowship should be abolished.
mode of appropriating the funds adopted. Membertglieir
at-
tending the dinners sometimes found a a note under
rhould
and a better
plates. He would suggest that the Com
recommend in their report that another cowmiguisi
teigoi the City
qinorgn should
be issued specially to inquire into the ta.
companies, and that that commission should h
who would be
have upon it
some of the first law officers of the Croce.
competent to give an opinion on the
wer of compelling
jegsJ branch of the
subject. He would take away P-
the citizens generally to take
II would recommend the
liverymen of the companies. up ttheeeir treedom and become
Mr. Hill for South Austra.
system of voting
thesuggested bltie representation of the mi-
nority.a whichrovides for
re
ought to be ten alderman in
He thought h
the new council, who
not by the whole constituent body.
shonidte be elected by the Common
Council itself, and .1 rs ought not to exceed 100 in num-
The common council o
also, that the mayor should be

her. He would propose, .
elected from the Common Council.
The Chairman Would you make it obligatory that the
choice of mayor should be restricted to a member of the
Common Council?
Hickson—I would.
The Chairman - -Why would you confine the choice in

that manner ?
Mr. Sickson—l donot. think there can be any materia,
ee
obi dons to such a limitation.lbelieve that the
rile laid down
by the Municipal Reform pct inis
other
boroughs, and it works well in the country. By 100
elected men electing ono man
from their own body you
have the best means of securing an intelligent choice.
It does not follow that because a man is the wealthiest
man in the district that he is the most eligible person to
preside over the municipality. Without meaning to be
invidious, men of the standing of Baron Rothschild, or
Mr. Thomas Baring for instance, might be very well quali-
field for negotiating foreign loans, or for managing larre
commercial transactions, and yet not have the peculiar
training that would best fit them for the discharge of mu-
nicipal duties. Provided a man has high character and
practical ability, it is not necessary that he should be u
usuallyfit for, ci rich, or
von dine of the magnates of his neighbourhood,il
to besti lie did not concur in the
suggestion which had been made that the district munici-
palities to be established in the metropolis should be regu-
lated according to the existing parliamentary boroughs.
There boroughs stood in a very Anomalous position, as cOll-
-