The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-18 00:00:00

ARBITRATION.
A number of petitions were presented in favour of
national arbitration by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Scholefield,
and other Hon. Members.
CLERGY RELIEF BILL.
Mr. G. THOMPSON presented several potiticns in
favour of this Bill.
NAVIGATION-LAWS.
Mr. E. ELLICE presented petitions from Kircaldy
against any alteration in these laws; also against the
Marriage (Scotland) Bill.
OATHS.
Mr. STAFFORD presented a petition from Northamp-
ton against the new Oaths Bill.
ARTERIAL DRAINAGE.
The HoN. MEMBER also presented a petition from
Tipperary in favour of arterial drainage.
CHURCH AND STATE.
Mr. SCHOLEFIELD presented a petition in favour
of the disunion of Church and State.
MARRIAGE LAW.
Sir J. Y. BULLER presented several petitions from
places in Devonshire against any alteration of the mar-
riage law.
FEES IN COURTS OF EQUITY.
Sir H. WILLOUGHBY asked Mr. Bouverie, whether
it was the intention of the Committee on Fees in the
Courts of Equity and Law in England, to make any re-
port on that subject.
Mr. BOUVERIE said the operations of the Committee
had been delayed in consequence of the preparation of
returns which had not yet been presented. So soon es
they were, the Committee would be called together, and
active steps taken to prepare a report founded thereon.
DUCHY OF CORNWALL.
Mr. TRELAWNY gave notice that he should, to-
morrow, ask why the annual returns with respect to this
Duchy had not been laid before the House.
Mr. BAINES presented petitions from several places
in favour of union rating.
Mr. HUME presented petitions from Forfar, and
several other places in Scotland, against the Marriage
Registration (Scotland) Bill; also a petition from Taun-
ton in favour of a better representation of the people in
Parliament.
NEW METROPOLITAN BOROUGH.
Mr. MACGREGOR postponed the following motion,
which stood on the paper for today, to Tuesday,
the Bth of May:—That in consideration of the
parishes of Kensington, Chelsea, Fulham, and Ham-
mersmith, containing a population of about 120,000 in-
habitants, residing on an area not exceeding 8,000 acres,
and comprising also above 18,000 houses, •of
the annual rental of 101. and upwards; and
further, in consideration that there is no other district
in Great Britain with so great a number of inhabitants
and houses unrepresented directly in this House, it is
expedient and just to incorporate, by an Act of Parlia-
ment, the parishes of Kensington, Chelsea, Fulham, and
Hammersmith, into a Parliamentary borough, em-
powered to return two Members to this House, to fill up
the vacancies caused by the disfranchisement of the late
borough of Sudbury.

PUNJAUB.
Mr. GOULBURN, seeing the Hon. Member for the
Tower Hamlets in his place, wished to know whether it
was his intention to night to call the attention of the
House to the state of affairs in the Punjaub. According
to the notice that appeared on the paper to that effect,
as he understood it, the Hon. Member had postponed
his motion on a former day, on the ground that the papers
on the subject were not before the House; those papers
had not yet been laid upon the table, and he theretore
trusted that the Hon. Member would not bring his mo-
tion on that evening.
Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE said that some of the
papers had been laid on the table yesterday, and the re-
mainder would be forthcoming shortly.
Mr. G. THOMPSON said that the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman opposite was in error as to the reasons that in-
duced him to postpone his motion to the present day; it
was not in consequence of the papers on the subject not
being before the liouse,but at the request of the Noble Lord
at the head of the Government, in order that the progress
of the Rate in Aid Bill might not be suspended. He felt
bound to persevere in his motion to-night, believing that
without the papers alluded to by the Right Hon. Gentle-
man he should make out such a case as would call upon
the House to interfere.—(Hear.)
Mr. GOULBURN regretted the course intended to be
pursued by the Hon. Member, as several Members would
not attend under the supposition that the motion would
be postponed in consequence of the papers not being laid
on the table of the House.
LANDED PROPERTY (IRELAND).

Mr. SADLEIR then rose, pursuant to notice, to ea
the attention of the House to the legal circumstances
which unduly impede the sale of landed property in
Ireland (Hear, hear) and to those facilities
which may be safely afforded for its free transfer.
When he looked to the condition of Ireland—to the des-
titution and suffering of her people, and the patience
with which they bore those sufferings—when be
looked to the financial difficulties into which she
had fallen, when he saw injuries perpetrated upon her
under 'the name of charity, and a merciless poor-law—
when he looked at the sessional policy of her Majesty's
Ministers, and the spirit in which they had received
every remonstrance from Ireland, he trusted that he
might claim with confidence the generous indulgence of
the House while he called its attention to the legal circum-
stances which unduly impeded the sale of landed property
in Ireland, and those facilities which might be safely
afforded for its free transfer. Owing to the want of
proper facilities for the transfer of landed property in
Ireland, the application of capital and agricultural
science to the improvement of the land and development
of its resources was greatly impeded. He would just
call the attention of the House to one sin-
gle passage in the report of the Committee
which sat in 1846, for the purpose of con-
sidering how far the burdens on land in this
country could be diminished, with the view of counter-
acting the effects which the adoption of free trade must
for a short period have upon the value of landed
property. The Committee complained that the
transfer of landed property in this country was
subjected to expense by the law, which, in the opinion of
the Committee, greatly diminished the marketable
value of the land itself. Now, if such a difficulty were
felt in this country how much more disastrous must
it prove in Ireland, where land was so much en-
cumbered.—(Hear.) It night, however, be said that
the value of land in this country bore a fair proportion
to the value of land in other countries, therefore the
depression of landed property in Ireland could not be
traced to the operation of the law which related to its
transfer. But the House must remember that Ireland
was not assimilated to the law of England.—(Hear,
hear.) Mr. P 3 mm, in his valuable work on
the condition of the landed property in Ire-
land, attributed much of the prevailing distress to the
cumbersome and expensive machinery which attended
its transfer, while the absence of that principle,
known in this country under the name of
foreclosure," increased, to a tenfold extent,
the expense of conveying land, and of course still
aggravated the distress of the country. The most recent
mortgagee was compelled, for his own safety and pro-
tection, to trace and enrol tie claim of the party who
had the most remote and indefinite interest to
the property, a system which was exceedingly costly,
and subjected the transfer of the property to much
legal chicanery, and served well to extend and keep up
litigation, which could benefit no party but the law-
yers. Under the existing system every individual who
had or had ever had a remote or indirect interest in
the property, had to be brought before the
Court of Chancery in Ireland. (Hear, hear.)
The whole subject-matter with reference to the sale of
an estate was referred to the Master's office, where it
became the subject of unprincipled litigation, and thus
an amount of expense fully equal to 30 per cent. upon
the selling value was entailed upon the propt!etor.
There were several instances of as many as 180 charges
being preferred and filed in one suit, and each of those
charges was analogous to a small bill in equity. How-
ever small the demand of a creditor might be, it was im-
possible for the Master to take legal cognizance of the
debt, unless it was placed under his notice by way of a
charge and discharge. In fact, the success of the
apparitor depended upon the ingenuity and skill of his
lawyer in taking advantage of every technical objection,
with the view of postponing the day of the sale. Landed
proprietors were in the habit of encouraging their legal
advisersto their
e r.,tioro
sot
pwr
oenns oerlntem tot every contrivance to post-
pone the day of payment ; but they forgot
thatfi
ce that
interests. was
Ae
tffect
length,e effected
at f
tan
r terrible
Master's
sset ce
investigation into the title of the estate and into the con-
ditions and circumstances of the incumbrances prior
to the creditor's demand, the suit begins to as-
assume the practical shape and form of a
report. This became again the subject of
much dispute and litigation in nine cases out of the ten,
but ultimately the Chancellor was empowered to pro-
nounce his judgment with reference to the payment of
the several demands affecting the estate. Again long
and bitter contests took place upon what were called the
e note " of the decree, and upon the language
used by the Chancellor. The unfortunate estate was
again turned into the Master's office, and that func-
tionary, who had previously filled the various offices of
Lhoiurnd
an accountant, of a
npfroafoautnndnkl-ahwrnykeerr,
stock-broker,
experienced
conveyancer, conveyancer,
mr ,l)f al
tl a nvida s a urcet
no
rnrenedr .
cries of Hear, —to(
observations and rein.
tlt.ract the attention and notice of the
to compose the particurtewolifieshas‘le,e, theiteonatjuulsatted varit)ue,
to wintover,
over, and to a .
upon to constitute
hlue.
era
different to what w
known as conditions of sale in
, this ColllltrYl where P
a „ton or the entire of the pur-
capitalists. The conditions of sale in Ireland were very