The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-04 00:00:00

,11.

narrow
tTtAhIiNTON ELECTION.—This election has resulted in
the return of the Liberal candidate by a much more
e closemajority
e f thet h apneli hadthe
eb reasonablyeheunmhers were-373
ere—n3f
ers
anticipated.i
Ttphir.ooenußmstasiomsofesden (Liberal), and 866 for Mr. H. Padeock
(Conservative).
ROBRERY IN OXFORD-STREET. --Yesterday morning
information was fox warded from the various police st-.-
fea nteefn mo 'r.l
01, extensivevek.oßnu Saturday
burglaryeahtue trtd,
awtywhnioci wasghahoto
arsn
dre Zs eemcvteernd
iool
:nccl teol:ske.
street, Oxford-street, when property to the amount of
part
y descriptions ot
then
theei.: -
several hundred pounds was carried off; between the
on Monday morning last. The upper
joining house is to Jet, and through iottThtehhree thieves are
supposed to hive effected an entrananced-
owfappsrocoprpeeaGrttoeyici
com-
menced packing up every valuable article, including 250
—lloodikrot a little excitement
glionlkds,anwdatscilhvebrrowoacthcehse,ss,h2irotopginolsd, guards, 700 rings, 60
gold bracelets, 200 gold brooches, besides studs, sleeve
BinTtHhEe
hWeirgThtseurn.
of St. George's-place,
Hyde-park-corner, this morning, by the precipitate and
unusual entrance of a fine great fellow of a sheep, right
through the plate-glass front of Messrs. Rogers and
Dear, where he, no doubt, found himself rather abroad
midst the mimic flowers and plants represented in the
carpets, tapestries, &c., which usually adorn the win-
dows of those fashionable upholsterers ; we believe the
poor animal was impelled to this strange refuge by the
attack of one of those troublesome curs which seem to
infest our streets more at this season than at any other..
ROYAL THAMES YACHr CLUB —Yesterday six yachts:
of this club contended for % two prizes of plate value re-
spectively 100 and 50 guineas. The distance was from.
Erith to the Nore Light and back. The following ves-
sels started at a quarter to twelve with an easterly wind..
Of the first class Lord Londesborough's Musquito,.
50 tons ; Mr. Bartlett's War Hawk, 50 tons ; Mr..
Crania's Volante, 48 tons ; Mr. C. Brandreth's Pauline,.
35 tons. Of the second class Mr. George Coop'ss
Thought, 25 tons ; Mr. S. Lane's Phantom, 25 tons..
The yachts arrived at the Nore Louigrsh.t
isiinint.he
sfoelel.owincr
order and time :
Musquito 3 26 12
Volante 3 41 45
Phantom
War Hawl- 4 4 40
4 9 3
Pauline
The arrival at Erith was as follows :
Hours. Min. Sec.
Musquito (the winner)
7 14 47
Volante
Phantom (winner 24 class) 7 46 30

HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woi
at five o'clock.
Fisher's Divorce Bill passed through committee.
The report on Cutbill's Divorce Bill was receive
agreed to.
The Earl of EGLINTON presented a petition from
a place in Scotland against the grant to Maynooth.
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY presented peti-
tions from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,
and from Melbourne, against the continuance of the
transportation system.

lsack

and

BURGHS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Lord PANMURE moved the second reading of this
bill, which he said was to remedy certain defects in the
mode of election to Town Councils in Scotland. Accord-
ing to the present law, an error in the election of any
member of a Scotch Town Council could only be reme-
died by warrant under the royal sign manual, and the
object of this bill was to enable the necessary proceed-
ings to be taken on application to the Court of Session.
The bill was then read a second time.
CHARITABLE TRUSTS BILL.
The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the second read-
ing of this bill, the object of which, he explained, would
reform the jurisdiction and management of charitable
trusts. Within the course of the present century, seve-
ral commissions had been issued to inquire into the sub-
ject, and no less than 32 reports had been presented,
extending over 38 closely printed folios. Several bills
had been introduced into this house on the subject,
by Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Cottenham, and Lord Truro,
but none had passed into law. It now became the
duty of the present Government to take up the subject
again ; and in doing so, they claimed very little merit
for originality, but it had been necessary to make some
changes. The judicial machinery proposed by the for-
mer bill consisted as to charities under 301. a year of the
County Courts—from 301. to 100/. of Masters in Chan-
cery—and above 1001. the Court of Chancery. The
Masters in Chancery was a tribunal which had been
abolished. The superintending board had consisted of
two or three paid, and two or three unpaid members;
but it becoming necessary to make a change in the con-
stitution of the judicial tribunal, the goverment had
taken into its consideration whether an important and
useful change might not be made also in the constitution
of the board. The duties of the board would be to pre-
serve a general superintendence over all the charities in
the kingdom without any expense. It would be made
imperative on the trustees of all charities to keep regular
accounts of all receipts and expenditures, great or small,
and annually to deposit a copy with the clerk of the
County Court, and transmit another copy to the board
in London, where it would always be accessible to all
parties. He believed that would have a most material
effect towards correcting a great deal of abase. Nine-
tenths of the abuses were the result of ignorance, and
not intended fraud, and when accounts were regularly
called for, and the attention of competent parties di-
rected to them, who could point out errors, the present
abuses would soon be corrected. (Hear, hear.) But the
board would also be called on to perform another
function, which would be very useful, and was, he be-
lieved, recommended by the commission. It often hap-
pened that trustees who were pei:ectly honest did not
know what course they ought to take ; and it was
proposed that they should be at libeity—the secre-
tary communicating with the board—to ask their ad-
vice. The board might direct them what to do, and
should indemnify them until they were corrected by
a judicial tribunal. He did not say that course
would be free from difficulty, but it would be an
approximation to a better system. There was, then
another function which the board would have to ea-
ercise, and one of the greatest importance., It was pro-
posed that they should have the power c. taking legal
proceedings to be instituted, and, what was perhaps of
not less importance, of forbidding them from being insti-
tuted. Gross abuses had arisen from the iestituting of
proceedings, and it would not be a new thing that such
proceedings should be under the control of a Govern-
ment board. At present there was no machinery for
ascertaining whether the object of proceedings was of a
legitimate character, or whether they were instituted at
the instance of some low professional man, with a view
to obtain large costs. (Hear, hear.) It was proposed,
therefore, that the board should have the control over
all legal proceedings, and that none should be instituted
without their sanction. In ordinary cases charitable
trustees had the power of dealing with trusts as indivi-
duals. It might be found extremely important to a cha-
rity to build or take down a house, to cut timber, to ex-
'change, or sometimes, perhaps, even to sell land ; but
there was no power in the trustees to do these things.
The result was that, if the case was that of a large
charity, they applied to Parliament at a large expense,
never, he believed, under 6001., for a bill to enable them
to do that which would benefit everybody. It was pro-
, posed, therefore, that in all these cases power should
be given to the board to authorise the trustees to do
what in ordinary cases they could not do ; and as most
of these powers had been proposed in the bill of 1851,
he did not anticipate there would be any real differ-
ence of opinion amongst their lordships. (Hear, hear.!
Her Majesty's government, then, looking at the ques
tion merely in an economical point of view, and at the
probable beneficial results to the community, had thought
that the expense, which could not be more than 5,0001.
to 10,0001. should be boiae by the country. (Hear,
hear.) Objections had been urged against sending bar-
risters into the country to exercise arbitrary and inquisi-
torial fsnctions. No doubt that was a difficulty, but
we living in a world smeound^d by difficulties ; and the
good that would probably accrae would far overbalance
any objections of that kind, especially as the inquiries
were such as it was absolutely necessary should be made.
Besides, in the bill of Lord 10 adhurst there was a pre-
cisely similar proposition, except that the barristers
were called inspectors instead of commissioners. L e
came now to the judicial tribunal to be employed in
these cases. He proposed that in cases under 30/. they
should be refer red to the judges of the county courts.
He was not without apprehension that they would not
at first discharge the duty in all cases quite satisfactorily.
In the former bill it was proposed that all cases between
30/. and 1001. should be referred to the Masters in
Chancery. He proposed, however, that the schemes
arranged by the judges of the county counts, and the
appointment of ti ustees by them, should always be
publicly advertised ; and that no scheme should come
into operation until it had received the sanction of the
board. With these safeguards they need not apprehend
that his plan would give rise to any material inconve-
nience. He also proposed that funds might be trans-
ferred, where necessary, to official trustees, end that all
the accounts should be transmitted to the board. These
were the principal features of the bill, which he should
be happy to submit to a select committee, if thought
desirable, and he trust d, therefor , that their lordship
would have no objection to the second read:rig. (Hear,
hear.)
The Duke of CLEVELAND considered the bill an
improvement on last year.
The Eesl of CHICHESTER thanked the noble and
learned lord for bringing in the measure, and he thought
that to confer the extensive powers proposed to be given
to the commissioners world be an act of prudence.
Lord BROUGHAM applauded the bill, and observed
that it was impossible to traverse the country in any
direction without meeting with monuments to the labours
of the commissions and Parliamentary committees which
had sat upon this question. Those labours had not only
acted directly on the 100 and odd charities to which
they referred, but indirectly upon a vast number of
other cases, where the very apprehension of inquiry had
produced reform. He believed that in a majority of in-
stances the trustees had not been guilty of wilful abuse or
malversation of the funds, but the evils complained of
had arisen from negligence, from ignorance, and from
carelessness.
Lord ST. LEONARDS did not oppose the second
read ; but there were vailous points in the bill to
which he should hesitate long before he gave his con-
sent.
Lord BROUGHAM (who in the interim had been
holding a conversation with a gentleman at the bar of
the house) said that nothing could equal the powers of
imagination possessed by the noble and learned lord.
(Laughter.) He (Lord Brougham) had consulted a
member of the commission, who had reminded him of
an arrangement that he (Lord Brougham) and Lord St.
Leonards should attend in turns, and his (the commis-
sioner's) impression was that he (Lord Brougham) had
attended the oftener of the two.
Earl TALBOT observed that he knew of a charity
which had been put to an expense of near 2001. to ap-
point a new trustee. He hoped the noble and learned
-Lord would make provision to prevent charities being put
to such an expert e.
The bill was then read a second time.
CATHEDRAL APPOINTMENTS BILL.

Earl GRANVILLE moved the second reading of this
bill.
The Bishop of SALISBURY said he wished to state
the grounds on which he gave his assent to the second
reading of this bill. He looked upon it as the means of
effecting wise and effectual reforms in our cathedral esta-
blishments. That was an object which he had long and
earnestly desired to see brought to pass, and he should
not therefore wish to offer any opposition to a measure
having that object ; but in reference to cathedral esta-
blishments, he wished to guard himself by saying that
the supposition that they were seats of corruption on
the one hand, or, on the other hand, in possession of
great wealth, was altogether unfounded. They were
the mere dying off remnants of a bygone system, the
evils of which were guarded against prospectively by
enactments. Pluralities were absolutely abolished, and
even residence connected with pluralities would neces-
sarily come to an end ; and so far from these establish-
ments being possessed of those large revenues which
many supposed them to possess, the act which had been
passed in relation to them, when it came fully into ope-
ration, would take from them so large a portion of their
revenue, that the remnant would hardly be sufficient for
the efficient discharge of those duties, which he was sure
they would wish to see carried into effect more efficiently
than they were. He fully agreed that these institutions
stood in need of a great measure of reform.
The motion for the second reading was then agreed to.
SHERIFF AND COMMISSARY COURTS
(BERWICKSHIRE) BILL.
On the motion of Lord PANIVIURE, the bill was read
a second time.
LUNATICS' CARE AND TREATMENT BILL.
Lord St. LEON-ARDS said this bill would make ex-
tensive alterations with regard to the administration of
the estates of lunatics. The expenses were proposed to
be raised almost wholly by a graduated scale, according
to the amount of the property to be administered. In-
stead of separate commissions of lunacy, there would be
a general commission, which would save great expense.
' in some cases i jury would be required, but in others,