The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-12 00:00:00

We propose that the Common Council, with reduced
numbers, and a large and improved constituent body, be in-
trusted with the election of all the superior paid officers of
the corporation. This is the scheme of the General Munici-
pal Act, and we see no reason for thinking that it is unsuited
to the circumstances of the city.
"We have received complaints with respect to abuses in
the exercise of the compulsory power connected with the
choice of persons for the office of sheriff. It has been stated
to ns that these abuses have now been rectified • but we think
that the election of sheriffs by the Common douncil instead
of in Common Hall, will afford an additional security for the
proper
with use of
proprietytho t powers.e the
same The
as
thatoare
qualificationfoadr
y proposed
erteorsieffds
might
for aldermen and confmon councillors.
"At present the two sheriffs of London perform-the du-
ties of sheriff of Middlesex. We do not recommend any alte-
ration in the present relations of these two shrievalties.
" It is hardly within the scope of our inquiry to recom-
mend alterations in the practice and jurisdiction of the
metropolitan
of
efitttrhotepo
olbi
ae n
Middlesex
Central Criminal Court, except so far as the corporation are
directlyf
aldermen
deSessions,tec
leanexs
oepcef
expense
concernedttnhyhsewee
corporationoauwshouldutd telhgdoennls deno
ocnnwl
tr
criminal
nmbtt
ghehti
should
:hi
retaotl.
fu
so
business
musl loi
sdtossi
t:efspisesnaoi
sernitconvenient
certainly
fu
consi-
dered whether the creation of one central court for the dis-
posalthen
d ge
dis-
trict, sitting almost continuously and combining the services
to
rone
prisoners
ioee
fre
relieved
hl
lee:ley:de beneficialcedenftrrCentral
mlCri-
minall
change. But at any rate we think that the Lord Mayor and
Court, the attendance being at present merely formal.
h d o pn t
itself, those
fromhe
bwithin r
respectively
e tilimitsvelyobf
ythe h
eei city
metropolitanof Lo
they
wh o comeshould
coup-
ties to which the prisoners tried belong.
" The Corporation of London possesses and exercises seve-
ral privileges affecting trade. Some of these confer an exclu-
sive right of following certain employments ; others are used
merely as a source of revenue to the corporation.
" We recommend that all laws, acts of CoMmon Council,
or other regulation-8, prohibiting persons not free of the city
from carrying on any trade, retail or otherwise, within the
city, or from using any art, occupation, or handicraft within
the city, be repealed and abolished. In this recommenda-
tion the Common Council, by their recent resolutions,
concur.
" The corporation likewise possesses, by immemorial usage,
confirmed by a charter of the 3d James 1., the metage of all
grain, fruit, wares, and merchandises brought into the port
of London. This right is not confined to articles landed
within the limits of the city, but extends to all goods landed
on both sides of the river, from Staines in Middlesex to Yant-
let-creek in Kent.
" The corporation is likewise entitled to a street-toll, which
is levied on all carts, not the property of freemen, upon en-
tering or leaving the liberties of the city. This toll, in the
year 1852, produced a gross revenue of 6,9351.. If the city
of London were now, as it once was, the entire metropolis,
and if carts were liable to a toll upon entering it from the
neighbouring country, this toll would stand on the same foot-
ing as other tolls which are now levied at the entrance of
boroughs. But, inasmuch as the city of London now forms
only a small part of the entire town, and as its limits are
The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the ex:4 arbitrary sections of continuous lines of streets, the toll in
isting state of the City of London have issued a cone ere- question bas become a street-toll levied at certain spots in
hensive report, which has just been presented to Parlia• the middle of the metropolis. Its incidence is al so partial ;
meat. The report enters very minutely into the constitu- inasmuch as it is levied exclusively on carts, whe carriages
tion, rights, and government of the corporation. Subjoined are exempt; and moreover is levied only on the carts of non-
are the principal points to which the commissioners have freemen. For these reasons, we recomme uponthat the toll in
directed their attention, and the recommendations sug- question be abolished. There was a chaege this branch
gested by them for the amendment of the evils of which of income for a public improvement, but that charge has been
complaints have been made. The report commences by paid off; and Sergeant Merewether informed us that it was
explaining the peculiarity of the position of the corporation the wish of the corporation, antecedently to the issue of our
of London as distinguished from other municipal corpora- commission, that this toll should be abandoned. The Common
Council, in their recent resolutions, likewise recommended its
t {ionseehii ne f
ofwEngland,hieh
are andcomprised proceeds to make
lathefon
owtug recommendations,sum to ni.y
abolition.:_
" The earliest formation of a metropolitan district for sta " The annual expenses of the metropolitan police are divided
tistical purposes arose froni the bills of mortality prepared between the parishes and the consolidated fund, the parishes
and issued by the company of parish clerks. London, within paying three-fourths, and the consolidated fund paying one-
the bills of mortality, was formed of the parishes included in fourth of the whole. In the city a similar division is made
these lists, with successive augmentations from 1603 to 1817. between the ratepayers and the corporation ; the police rate
The metropolis, as returned by Mr. Rickman in the census bearing three-fourths, and the city chest contributing one-
abstracts of 1801 to 1831, consisted of this district, with fourth of the annual expense. In the year 1852 the sum thus
some additional parishes. Since that time the metropolis of contributed by the corporation towards the expenses of the
the Registrar-General has been used for the census and other city police was 10,5241. We recommend, in the event of the
statistical objects. It appears that the entire metropolis present distinction between the city police and the rest of the
within the limits assigned to it contains an area of 78,029 metropolitan police being abolished, that the corporation be
acres, with 305,933 inhabited houses ; that its population relieved from this contribution, and that the city receive the
was 958,863 in 1801, and 2,362,236 in 1851, having more same assistance from the consolidated fund towards the main-
than doubled in the last 50 years ; and that the value of its tenance of its police as the rest of the metropolis.
property assessed to the poor-rate in 1852 was 9,964,3481. " The existence of a separate Commission of Sewers for the
It appears, further, that the area of the city of London proper city, under a local act, and its exception from the commis-
is 723 acres ; that it contained 14,693 inhabited houses in sion the powers of which extend over the rest of the metropo-
-1851 ; that its population was 158,833 in 1801, and 129,128 litan district, is an anomaly which has grown out of the peen-
in 1851 ; and that its assessment wa5.953,1101. in 1852. liar relations of the city to the rest of the metropolis. The
" Whereas, the population of the entire metropolis has city commission of sewers likewise manages the lighting and
more than doubled in the last 50 years, the population of paving of the city, and performs other sanitary functions.
the city of London has remained nearly stationary. This dif- Its various duties appear to be efficiently performed ; and we
ference is owing to the fact that the city of London was are not prepared to recommend any alteration in them,
covered with houses and fully peopled at the beginning of though its superintendence of the main sewers will have to
this century ; whereas, in the outskirts of the town, a great be considered in connexion with the scheme for a metropoli-
addition of new houses, and a corresponding increase of popu- tan" board of works.
We have already stated that the corporation collect a
lation has taken place since that period.
" The Municipal Corporations Act has now been the law of metage duty upon all corn, fruit, or other measurable articles
the land for nearly 20 years ; all the important municipal landed in the port of London. They were formerly entitled
corporations in Englend are subject to its provisions, and it to a similar duty on coal, which has been subsequently com.
appears on the whole to have been attended with beneficial muted into a duty on the ton, and has undergone other changes
eff,cts, and to have given satisfaction to the country. Upon by successive acts of Parliament. There are now three duties on
a consideration of these facts, we have come to the conclusion coal imported either by land or water into a district extending
that, in revising the constitution of the Corporation of Lon- 20 miles from the General Post-office. The first of these is
don, it will be advisable to apply to it the leading provisions a duty of 4d, which lasts at this rate until 1862, when it ro-
of that statute, making, at the same time, due allowance for verts to a duty of
onsider 4d. the chaldron. It is p thea ceabl to the cor-
those peculiar circumstances which distinguish the London poration, and is cas forming part of it's cor-
those
from other corporations, and which render a dif- After deducting the drawback, the expenses of collection, and
ference of institutions, in certain respects, expedient. other charges, the net produce of the city coal tax in 1852 was
"In laying down this principle, however, for our guid- 54,1411. It is now charged for the Cannon-street improve-
ance, we are desirous of limiting its application to the con- meat, with a principal sum of 580,0, 0/., besides a compensa-
stitution of the corporation. That portion of the Muniei- tion allo .vante to sea coal meters, which amounted in 1852 to
pal Corporations Act, which consists in an extension of the 7,3361. The sum assigned out of this produce of the
erm4d. coal
boundaries of the borough, so as to comprehend all portions tax for the payment of the interest upon the panent
of the town and its suburbs lying beyond the old limits, charge in 1852 was 20,0001. so that in that year the sum ap-
seems to us inapplicable to the case of the metropolis. propriated by the corporation out of this tax to its ordi-
If the procedure of the Legislature in the Municipal nary expenses amounted to 26,8051. The second of the coal
Corporations Act were taken as a precedent, absolutely duties is a duty of Bd. per ton, the net produce of which
and without discrimination, in reforming the London cor- in 1852 was 113,5591. This sum, together with an an-
poration, it would be necessary, not only to alter its consti- anal payment of 11,5901. from tne city's estates a small
tution, but to advance the present boundaries of the city until duty on wine, and some other petty sources of income, con-
they surrounded the entire metropolis ; a process by which stitutes a fund denominated The London-bridge Ap.
an area of 723 acres would be converted into an area of preaches Duties Fund.' This fund is subject to certain
78,029 acres, by which a population of 129,128 would be con- annual charges for interest on loans and for expenses of col-
verted into a population of 2,362,236, and an assessment of lection and management, which in 1852 amounted to 12,0001.;
953,1101. would be converted into an assessment of 9,964,3481. and the surplus, being 113,3731., was payable to the Commis-
he change of this magnitude would not only alter the whole sioners of Works in liquidation of loans raised and charges
character of the city corporation, but it would, as it seems to made upon the fund. When the charges made by
the Board
us, defea-, the main purpose of municipal institutions, of Works upon this fund have been satisfied, charge of
" The city of London has no governing charter, in which 88,0001., made by the corporation for improvements at
respects it differs from many of the English corporations. It Clerkenwell succeeds ; and it is calculated that the fund will
In
is true that the great Inspeximus Charter of Charles 11. re- suffice to extinguish all these charges before July, 1862.
ceases.
cites and includes almost all the former ones, but it gives no that year the Bd. coal duty, either wholly or in part, .
explanation of them. It collects them, but does nothing to- The third duty is a duty of ld. per ton, the net produce of
wards their interpretation. There is no authoritative exposi- which in 1852 was 14,3971., and the whole of this sum, sub-
tion of the multifarious rights and privileges, many of which ject to a small charge for the costs of collection, was Payable
im
are said to be founded on the language of these charters, to the Commissioners of Works for metropolitan
prove-
Hence arises considerable uncertainty as to the meaning of menthe This
duty expires in 1852.
the charters themselves. " The ctin of all the three classes of coal duty is
inasmuch as the corpo-
" There is no doubt that the present state of the city char- conducted by the corporation ; but,
ters, their antiquity, their large number, and the uncertainty ration directly represents only a small portion of the met etro-
as to their interpretation, and their repeal or modification by polls, Parliament has made it a mere trustee with respeto
subsequent charters or acts of Parliament, may render it the the produce of 9-13ths of the amount, and this portion is
duty of a cautious counsel to advise the city, in all litigated applied by it to specified purposes of general metropolis
nis an
questions, to adhere to the practice which they have hitherto utility. With respect to the remaining 4-13ths, there
followed, and to treat their charters as the title-deeds of a annual, though decreasing, charge for compensation
the to sea
private proprietor. coal meters, fixed upon it by act of Parliament ; and cor-
" The present mode of electing the Mayor seems to us poration voluntarily apply 20,0001. of its produce to the
objectionable on two grounds—first, on account of the Cannon-street improvement, which may be justly considered
formation of the constituent body ; secondly, on account as a work of general metropolitan importance. After these
of the restriction of the choice. We suggest that in deductions had been made, there remained to the corporation
accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Act the in 1852, out of the coal duties, a sum of 26,8051., which it
election of the Lord Mayor be vested in the Common treated as ordinary revenue. Against this amount, how-
Council. At the same time, we recommend so far a depar- ever, is to be set the sum of 11,5001. per annum, which the
ture from that act as, instead of restricting the choice of corporation contributes to the London-bridge Approaches
the Common Council to a member of their own body, to per. Fund, under act of Parliament, for general metropolitan
mit them to elect any person qualified to be a common improvements, until the year 1862. So that the city may
councillor, whether actually a member of the Common be considered to have only applied to its own use a sum
Council or not. of 15,3051. out of the proceeds of the coal-tax in 1852.
" In conformity with the universal practice in English For reasons similar to those which induced us to recommend
boroughs, we propose that the Lord Mayor should be a magis- the abolition of the metage dues, we think that the present
trate of the city during his year of office, and for the year arrangement, by which the corporation levies a duty
succeeding his mayoralty. upon coal over a district extending 20 miles from the
We pass to the consideration of the aldermen. Their General Post-office, and applies a portion of its proceeds to the
present numbers, position, and functions appear to us to re- exclusive purposes of the small area included within the city
quire considerable modification ; but we think there exist proper, ought not to be continued permanently.
sound reasons against applying to London the provisions of "We recommend that the principal control of the neviga.
the Municipal Reform Act respecting aldermen, without ad- tion of the Thames should be vested in a board composed of
dition or qualification. Nothing would be gained by do- the Lord Mayor, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Presi-
stroying the direct connection of the aldermen with their dent of the Board of Trade, the First Commissioner of Woods,
wards, which has been stated to us to be productive, in many and the Deputy Master of the Trinity-house ; and that they
,of considerable advantages, and to which we are be empowered to employ persons having the requisite pro.
instances
unable to see any practical objection. We recommend, fessional knowledge for performing the detailed administra-
therefore, that they should continue to be elected by the tion. In order that these duties should be efficiently dis-
burgesses of their wards out of those qualified to be corn. charged, it would be necessary that the Thames Navigation
mon councillors. Both the Common Council and the Court Board should have an adequate fund at its disposal.
of Aldermen are, in the main, executive bodies ; and, in "In a statement of the revenue and expenditure of the
order to promote harmony and unity of action in the corpo- corporation of London for 1852, the revenue amounts to
ration, we recommend that the Court of Aldermen be 551,9711., and the expenditure only to 403,9821., showing an
abolished, and that all the powers which it possesses as a excess of revenue over expenditure of 147,988/. This result,
body be transferred to the Common Council. whatever however, is mainly owing to the fact, that the sums of
functions the aldermen discharge as justices of the peace with 113,3731 a and 14,3371., making together 127,7101., though,
respect to prisons or any other similar matters, they would stated to be payable to the Board of Works, aro not entered
continue to discharge, notwithstanding the abolition of their in the column of payments. We have already shown that,
separate court. with respect to these portions of the coal duties, the city is a
" It appears from the evidence before us, that the duties mere trustee, and that they properly form no part either of
of prison inspection and prison management have been per- the income or expenditure of the corporation.
formed by the aldermen in a very satisfactory and efficient ,‘lt appears to us that an unnecessary complexity in the
ies elected its a
manner. keeping of the city accounts and in the administration of its
" The city of London has for many centurffairs is produced by the multiplication of departments and
own magistrates, and of late years, at least, this privilege separate funds. We therefore recommend that the manage
appears to have been well used. The present judicial offs- meat of similar branches be, as much as possible, consoli-
cers are spoken of by every one who has given evidence upon I dated ; and the entire revenue and expenditure brought into
the subject in the highest and most respectful terms. It a single series.
does not appear to us, therefore, that there is any ground The present arrangements for the audit of the accounts of
for suggesting that an important privilege, justly and highly the corporation seem to us defective. Instead of four auditors
prized by the citizens of Loudon, should be taken from I annually elected by the livery, we recommend that three au-
them and vested, according to the precedent of other boroughs, i tutors, with full powers of examination and disallowance, be
in the Crown. But there is no reason why the aldermen, appointed in the manner prescribed by the Municipal Corpo-
who will form only a portion of the new Common Council, rations Act, sections 37.93.
should retain the privilege of solely electing the Recorder. " Without discussing in detail the questions between the
"We intimated that we were about to recommend a re- Irish Society and its Irish tenants and dependents which have
duction in the number of aldermen, as well as the aboli- been raised before us, we think that enough has appeared
tion of their separate court. We have already suggested from the evidence on both sides to show that their relations
that the election of aldermen by wards is inconvenient and cannot be regarded as satisfactory.
unequal, and was remarked upon as defective by the Munici- i "As the revenues of the Irish Society are now uneneum-
pal Commissioners in their report of 1837. We can only , bored by debt, and as neither the Corporation of London,
suggest generally the principles on which the existing wards the Society itself, nor the London companies, aro beneficially